KCCI urges FBR to defer affidavit requirement for sales tax returns

October 18, 2024 (MLN): President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Jawed Bilwani has advised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to defer the condition of submitting an affidavit for Sales Tax Returns.

He highlighted that while taxpayers are compelled to affirm the complete accuracy of the information provided, it is more likely that the information is correct to the best of the taxpayer’s knowledge. However, taxpayers could still face penalties due to errors caused by vendors.

In a statement issued, President KCCI said, “It is a very confusing situation, therefore, the FBR should either tell us with whom we should carry out our purchases or come up with SOPs for purchases as currently, we only check whether the vendor is blacklisted or not and when found spotless, we immediately carry out the purchases.”

He remembered that the top officials of the FBR had recommended that the business community should check the website before making any purchases which had been a common practice for many years.

However, now they were being forced to submit an affidavit, which could be used against them if the vendor committed any tax evasion.

President KCCI further mentioned that under the FBR’s transformation plan, it has also been hinted that audits will be increased which was contrary to the claims made by the Finance Minister in his budget speech wherein it was assured to utilize maximum IT and AI-enabled services to end human interaction and transform the existing audit procedure into fully automated and real-time audit.

“More audit means appointments of more auditors which would lead to further complicating the procedure and pave way for more incidents of corruption”, he said, adding that adoption of maximum IT-enabled services would reduce the number of manpower at FBR which would help in bringing down the exorbitantly high expenses of the tax collection authorities and prove favorable for the economy.

He was of the view that a lot of things going on under FBR’s transformation plan were good, but there were several issues and lacunas as well that needed to be promptly addressed in consultation with the business community and relevant stakeholders to make FBR’s transformation plan completely flawless.

Referring to yesterday’s meeting with Chairman FBR at Customs House in Karachi, President KCCI hoped that FBR would give due attention to all the issues raised and suggestions given for a taxation-friendly environment which was badly needed to create an enabling environment not only for businesses but also for the economy

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