Tax target of Rs 2.81 trillion hard but doable: post-budget moot

The CPE Committee of the Karachi Tax Bar Association organized a post budget seminar to discuss & deliberate on the possible consequences of the Federal Budget 2014-15.

According to a statement issued here today, experts agreed that revenue collection target of Rs2.81 trillion assigned to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for the fiscal year 2014-15 is difficult but achievable, considering projected economic growth, a senior tax official said

“The rise in inflation and projected development expenditure will help the revenue body achieve the collection target in the next fiscal year,” Rehmatullah Khan Wazir, chief commissioner of the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Karachi said.

The revenue for the outgoing fiscal year will be close to revised collection target of Rs2,275 billion, he said.

He said several measures have been taken in the budget for broadening the tax base. “The concept of filer and non-filer has been introduced to broaden the tax base and given incentives to the compliant taxpayers,” he said.

Wazir said that in the past several attempts were made to broaden the tax base, including conducting surveys, exemption from audit and amnesty schemes. “But all such exercises could not yield desired results,” he added.

The applicability of active taxpayers-related provisions will be difficult. However, the same should be adopted on the filers of last tax year, he said.

The LTU Karachi chief commissioner said that changes regarding retailers will force them for mandatory registration.

Talking about the withholding tax on immovable property, Wazir said, the federal government has no power over amending the collector rate.

“At present, the collector rates of provinces are not at par with the open market rate,” he said, and suggested the provinces to revisit the existing rates.

Commenting on the single-digit sales tax, he said, a commission has been constituted, which will give recommendations in the next three to four months.