Action to be taken against traders who do not join tax scheme: FBR Chairman

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Langrial has warned that action will be taken against traders who fail to join the government’s tax scheme.

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Langrial has warned that action will be taken against traders who fail to join the government’s tax scheme.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance was held during which members discussed the one percent fixed tax scheme introduced for traders and retailers.

Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kiyani told the committee that the retailers’ tax scheme had been introduced after consultations with traders. He said enforcement measures and penalties would be imposed if shopkeepers failed to register under the scheme.

Committee Chairman Farooq H. Naek stressed the need to create greater awareness about the scheme and directed that it should be continuously promoted for one month.

FBR Chairman Rashid Langrial said registrations under the scheme were lower than expected. He noted that some traders believed there would be no consequences for failing to file their tax returns.

Langrial warned that traders who did not join the tax scheme would face action. He said that unless this perception changed, traders would continue to avoid filing tax returns. He added that if penalties had been imposed under tax schemes introduced in the past, the current situation might have been different.

The FBR chairman said authorities would monitor traders for one month to determine whether they were filing their tax returns. He emphasized that a very simple tax scheme had been introduced for retailers following consultations with the business community.

According to Langrial, there were two main reasons why retailers had been reluctant to join previous tax schemes. Traders had previously complained that tax schemes were complicated and that the tax burden was too high. He said these concerns had been addressed under the new scheme.

The FBR chairman further stated that retailers had not previously been offered such extensive incentives. He described the current scheme as sufficiently simple for ordinary citizens and said retailers should be able to file their tax returns under it without difficulty.