ISLAMABAD: The government constituted on Tuesday three committees to resolve the issue of withholding tax imposed on banking transactions and issues relating to other taxes.

The decision was taken after an understanding reached at a meeting between tax officials and the business community.

The committees will submit their reports by the middle of August.

Also read: Traders stage protests against ‘unjustified’ withholding tax

A source privy to the meeting told Dawn that the tax, which was later lowered from 0.6 per cent to 0.3pc for three months till Sept 30 at the request of the business community, would be only on non-filers of income tax returns. But filers are opposing it. “This shows that a lobby is working to frustrate government efforts for documenting the economy.”

The source said the committees would also look into other issues pertaining to filing of tax returns, especially sales tax and turnover tax. They have powers to co-opt other members if necessary.

According to an official announcement issued after the meeting, the Income Tax and Sales Tax committees will submit their reports by Aug 13. Their first meeting will be held on July 31 at the FBR headquarters.

The announcement said the Tuesday meeting was attended by Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Mohammad Afzal; Mian Abdul Mannan and Malik Pervez, MNAs; Special Assistant to PM on Revenue Haroom Akhtar Khan; FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa; Senior Member (Inland Revenue Policy), FBR, Shahid Hussain Asad; and 19 representatives of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, various chambers of commerce and industry and leaders of the traders community from across the country.

The agenda of the meeting was to facilitate the business community to become filers of tax returns and avoid the imposition of withholding tax under Section 236P of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. It was also meant to resolve issues pertaining to Income Tax and Sales Tax and evolve an effective communication strategy on educating the public, and particularly traders, on the rationale of the tax measure for documentation of the economy and broadening of tax base.

Mian Abdul Mannan will head the communication committee and Nadeem Dar Member (FATE), FBR; Zubair Tufail, FPCCI; Anjum Mahmood Butt, Pakistan Muslim Traders Wing; Syed Asad Mashhadi, President of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Muzammal Hussain Sabri, President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Amir Waheed, General Secretary of the Punjab Sugar Dealers Association; Sheikh Babar Khurana; Fuad Ishaq, President of the KPK Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Mohammad Ali Mian, former president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be its members.

Malik Pervez will be the convenor of the committee on income tax and Shahid Hussain Asad, Senior Member (Inland Revenue Policy), FBR; Sheikh Mohammad Asif, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mohammad Ali Mian, former president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Zubair Tufail, FPCCI; Anjum Mahmood Butt, the Pakistan Muslim Traders Wing; Muzammal Hussain Sabri, President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Malik Sohail Hussain, FPCCI, Islamabad; Khawaja Zarrar Kaleem, VP, FPCCI, Lahore; Khawaja Tanveer Ashraf, PML-N Gujranwala; Asim Zulfiqar, chartered accountant, Lahore; Kashif Shabbir, former president of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be its members.

Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Mohammad Afzal will be the convenor of the sales tax committee and Mohammad Ashraf Khan, Member (Inland Revenue Operations), FBR; Ashfaq Tola, TRC/TAC; Asif Haroon, FCA; Kashif Anwar; S. Khalid Tawab, FPCCI; Syed Asad Mashhadi, President of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Engineer Rizwan, the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be its members.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015

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