PESHAWAR: Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to stop issuing unnecessary tax notices to business community, accelerate tax refund process and broaden tax net to strengthen national economy.

The demands were made during a joint meeting of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, standing committee on inland revenue services and income tax standing committee here on Wednesday with SCCI president Engineer Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz in the chair.

According to a statement, the additional commissioner of regional tax office, Ajmal Khan; the RTO deputy commissioner, Usman Asif; and RTO assistant commissioner, Mohammad Yasir Nabi, also attended the meeting.

Traders criticise issuance of ‘unnecessary’ notices to them

The SCCI office-bearers said that FBR should accelerate the tax refund process to minimise miseries of traders. They said that instead of putting additional burden on existing taxpayers, FBR should bring more people into the tax net.

Maqsood Pervaiz on the occasion stressed the need for resolution of the problems of the traders affected by Covid-19. He said that steps should be taken to facilitate the businessmen.

Zahidullah Shinwari appreciated FBR and RTO for amending tax laws and taking initiatives to provide relief to business community.

He said that traders wanted to pay all taxes, but unnecessary notices were being issued to them that created mistrust among the government institutions and them.

Additional Commissioner Ajmal Khan accepted the proposals and recommendations of traders and assured them that his department would take proactive steps to resolve their issues.

Usman Asif and Mohammad Yasir Nabi through a multimedia presentation informed the participants of the meeting regarding amendments in tax laws and other initiatives.

Meanwhile, Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, a leader of United Business Group (UBG) and ANP, has said that growing price hike and weak economic policy have increased miseries of business community but government is least bothered to take the stakeholders on board for strengthening the national economy.

Talking to journalists at SCCI here on Wednesday, he said that despite tall claims to eradicate corruption, Prime Minister Imran Khan was unable to hold his own party people and ministers accountable in different cases of corruption.

He said that no one in the government was serious to take practical steps for steering the country out of the economic quagmire. He said government knew just to shut trade markets and arrest the traders on pretext of SOPs violation but it did not provide any relief to the affected traders so far.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2020