FAISALABAD: Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Tariq Bajwa says the government has decided to add at least 0.1 million people to the tax net every year.

He was addressing the 2nd All Pakistan Chambers Presidents pre-budget conference held at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) on Sunday.

He said most of the business community was patriotic and ready to pay ‘due’ taxes “but while making demands we should keep in mind the present fiscal environment we are living in.”

He said: “We only generate revenue to meet 70 per cent of our requirements and we have to borrow the remaining 30pc to manage our day-to-day affairs. The situation is neither acceptable nor sustainable and we all should concentrate on how we can come out of this situation and put our country on road to progress and prosperity.”

He said taxation should be growth oriented and all sectors must pay their due share.

He said Prime Minister’s Investment Package was a unique opportunity and non-filers could avail themselves of the facility by April 30, 2014.

About rationalisation, he said the SRO culture would be eliminated while the process for sales tax registration had been initiated with green channel to ensure complete transparency.

Regarding refunds, he said refund claims up to Rs1 million were being paid. “We have so far cleared 20,000 cases and doubled the amount of refund.” Bajwa said last year FBR had paid Rs1,800m and this year Rs4,100m would be paid.

He said improvement in automation was also on the anvil and the PRAL system would bring about more clarity and transparency in the tax collection.

He said instead of harassment FBR intended that every taxable income should come into tax net. “We have issued 80,000 notices in the first instance and are expected to bring 0.1 million new taxpayers in the tax net this year.”

FCCI President Sohail Bin Rashid said all entrepreneurs had consensus on increasing tax net with the hope that the government would not burden the existing taxpayers. He said joint budget proposals prepared during this conference would be completed very soon for onward submission to tax authorities for their incorporation into the federal budget 2014-15.

Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) Chairman Iftikhar Qutab said the authority was holding training sessions for officials and they would be ready to assume their responsibility within one year in the field. He said PRA would collect all provincial taxes including property tax and VAT. “Sales tax rate is 16pc and we are considering reducing it.”

However, he said, PRA intended to recover this tax from all sectors excluding education, health and charity. He said the system of filing return would be made online and transparent.

He said chambers would be involved in the process of recovery of this tax. “We will issue notices and will request the chambers to convince their members to pay the tax. If one fails to pay tax within 15 days, the field staff will be asked to take action.”