ISLAMABAD: The government has suspended the popular prize scheme of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for the shoppers from Point-of-Sales (POS) integrated tier-1 retail outlets for two and a half months.

The POS prize scheme will remain suspended until Jan 31, 2023, according to a sales tax notification SRO1005 released on Tuesday.

An official of the FBR said that the scheme will be made more inclusive and participatory for the public. All invoices verified during the intervening period will be included in the next prize draw, he added.

The new scheme will be launched after discussions with tier-1 retailers, card acquirers, issuers, and other stakeholders. A new scheme would be launched very soon. We want to make substantial changes in the scheme,” the official said.

Under the new scheme, according to the official, unverified shoppers will also be included in the prize schemes. Under the current scheme, only verified shoppers are shortlisted for the computer ballots.

The prize scheme was introduced through the Finance Act 2021 which was followed by the issuance of rules for the prize scheme on Aug 9, 2021 by the FBR. The first computerised balloting for the prize scheme was held on Jan 15 at FBR headquarters in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2022