ISLAMABAD, March 1: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is likely to propose amendments in the Sales Tax Act 1990 to allow de-registration of taxpayers from the tax net with a turnover less than Rs5 million without filing of a tax return.

An official source told Dawn on Tuesday that the decision was taken in a meeting of collectors of sales tax held recently to review among other things the de-registration of taxpayers during the first half year (July-December) of current fiscal. The CBR will propose amendment in the Act to allow automatic de-registration of these taxpayers without filing of any returns with the department.

The government had fixed December 31, 2004 as the last date for the de-registration of those taxpayers-retailers and manufacturers -from the sales tax net whose turnover were less than Rs5 million by filing a tax return with the sale tax department, which was conditional for de-registration.

With the increase in the threshold, it was estimated to de-register as many as 42,000 taxpayers from the sales tax net as a result of the measures proposed in the budget for promoting growth in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

According to the official, those who were genuinely registered with the sales tax department had already filed return and subsequently de-registered from the tax net.

He said that most of the taxpayers in the range of a turnover less than Rs5 million were registered during the survey conducted by the army, which even did not file a single return with the department till date.