ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Saturday notified that it was mandatory for a citizen to show his or her Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) in case he/she wanted to buy a product of over Rs50,000 from a sales tax-registered seller.

FBR spokesperson Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar said the condition of showing CNIC at the time of purchase had been waived in July 2019 in an effort to facilitate traders. The condition is being enforced again with effect from Feb 1, 2020 (Saturday).

He said the production of CNICs by individual consumers was not an issue. The board would only monitor business-to-business purchases to identify tax evaders. “We will connect our system with that of Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority) to verify the validity of CNICs,” he said.

Some traders were using fake CNIC numbers while recording their transactions, he said. The verification system would only be used in case of traders involved in big transactions.

The main purpose behind the move was to document business-to-business transactions, as only a few individual consumers made purchases greater than Rs50,000 and that too from sales tax-registered persons, he said. The condition would help sift out unverifiable and fictitious business buyers who cause huge losses along the value chain.

There were 41,484 sales tax-registered persons who were paying taxes and also filing returns, Dr Sarwar said.

“If a purchase is made from a sales tax-registered person, the CNIC number of the buyer is to be provided in only limited cases. The provision of the CNIC number does not mean the buyer has to be a registered person under the sales tax law. Sales to unregistered persons can be made.”

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2020