GUJRAT: The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has termed the power delegated to the Inland Revenue (IR) authorities to cause arrest of a taxpayer through amendment in section 203A of the income tax ordinance 2001 clause 5(67) of the fiancé bill 2021, highly objectionable and unjustified.

SCCI President Qaisar Iqbal Baryar told Dawn that the business community’s concerns over at least three clauses of the finance bill 2021 had been conveyed to the respective quarters in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) through an email.

The concerns, he said, also include the penalties prescribed through clause 2(28) of the finance bill in section 156 of the customs Act, 1969, which are extraordinary high and instead of creating deterrence/ensuring compliance, they will act as tools of annihilation of businesses as the penalties already prescribed under relevant section of customs act, 1969 are sufficient to provide necessary deterrence and new penalties should not be implemented as the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would not be able to bear the burden.

Inland Revenue being empowered to arrest taxpayer

Similarly, he said, five per cent withholding sales tax on exporter companies against purchases from unregistered persons should be abolished with retrospective effect from July 1, 2019 as the matter had already been taken up with the FBR for several times previously and there was an understanding that the levy would be withdrawn.

However, he said, no such amendment had been included in the bill which was a matter of great concern for the exporters of Sialkot who had reiterated their demand to withdraw it through amendment in the fiancé bill 2021.

Mr. Baryar said the FBR had already constituted an anomaly committee dated June 18, 2021 and the SCCI’s demands were also being sent to the committee to address these issues on a priority basis.

Moreover, he said, a delegation of SCCI had arranged a meeting with the FBR chairman in Islamabad on Tuesday (today) through Special Assistant to Prime Minister Usman Dar and the delegation would raise these issues with the chairman so that the irritants could be eliminated.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2021