The main body of traders in the country has asked the government to extend the deadline for a tax amnesty scheme for maximum benefit, and criticised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for becoming more of a hindrance than a help in promoting tax culture.
“We all wanted this scheme to cater to at least one million traders. But even a thousand cannot be registered in 16 days,” All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajran (APAT) President Ajmal Baloch told a press conference the other day.
He demanded that the last date for becoming a filer of tax returns be extended to June 30, 2016.
The deadline for the ‘Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme’ is Feb 29. However, the scheme, which came into effect on Feb 1, “actually kicked off on Feb 10”, Baloch said.
The traders said the scheme was finalised after four months of negotiations and it took another four months for the government to get it approved from parliament. Against this backdrop, the deadline was too close, they believed.
Under the scheme, the traders can become tax filers by paying mere two paisa per Rs100. At the same time there will not be any audit of these new filers up to financial year 2018. On the other hand, non-filers will have to pay 0.3 per cent withholding tax on banking transactions exceeding Rs 50,000 a day.
“We could not even launch awareness campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the murder of our provincial head at the hands of criminals and extortionists, while no preparations have been made for Balochistan,” said Naeem Mir, another leader of the APAT.
He said the traders’ community was faced with multiple issues, particularly distrust of the FBR.
“This scheme was the only way to bring the traders into the tax net and increase tax collections,” he said. “There are several lobbies who don’t want to see this scheme become a reality. They include some lawyers who fear that their businesses would be lost, some employees in the FBR who know that their ‘cuts’ would be lost and finally the majority of traders who are non-filers who fear they would be squeezed by the FBR.”
Narrating an example of his friend in Lahore who had recently been issued a tax notice of Rs10 million, he said the corrupt elements in the FBR had been a key hindrance in developing a culture of tax compliance in the country.
“Changing traditions and adopting new ways take time and the same is the case with our traders’ community. We need time to develop trust,” he added.
Meanwhile, Baloch said that if the deadline for tax amnesty scheme was extended to June 30, the Anjuman would launch a nationwide awareness drive among traders to highlight benefits of this scheme so that they become filers, join the tax net and start paying taxes instead of paying something under the table to the tax collectors.
“On the other hand, we will hold a nationwide meeting of our office-bearers in Islamabad to discuss the post-Feb 29 scenario,” he said.
Waste of time and resources. Mr Dar (Sb) knew he is playing fool yet implemented it. On the other hand have burdened the poor masses with additional 37 bn tax on electricity and gas. This Finance Minister and his master are waiting for 'curse' of the poor pelple of this country.
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