ISLAMABAD, April 16: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has issued more than 2500 notices to unregistered jewellers across the country.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the notices were issued on the basis of income tax data collected by the income tax department.

The sources said that from the income tax data, it was found that a great number of jewellers, who were already paying income tax but avoiding registration under the sales tax act.

Member sales tax, Ramzan Bhatti when contacted confirmed to Dawn that notices were issued to the jewellers on the basis of income tax data. He, however, did not give the exact number of notices issued to the jewellers for registration under the sale tax act.

He said that the decision was taken due to the fact that the tax authorities have so far collected very meagre amount from the jewellers.

Talking to Dawn on telephone, general secretary, supreme council of Jewellers, Haji Tariq Javed Awan termed the CBR move unfair.

Mr Awan said that tax officials have warned of heavy penalty if the jewellers failed to register.

The general secretary said that the chairman, supreme council of jewellers have convened a meeting on April 20 to decide future course of action. He also warned of indefinite strike.

He said that the major demand of jewellers were to reduce the rate of sales tax and also exempt the jewellers from maintaining the documentation of their businesses.

According to the sources, to tape this sector the tax authorities have already started serving notices on the registered jewellers to inquire about their exact businesses.

The government had levied 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) on supply, manufacturing, wholesale and retail stages of jewellery in the budget 2001.

For the implementation of the GST on the same, the government had also notified rules for jewellers through a notification, which called the special procedure for jewellers rules 2001.

Under these rules, the tax authorities were empowered to register every jeweller engaged in the business of manufacturing, supplying, retailing and wholesaling of jewellery.

The jewellery which was liable to sales tax included ornaments and articles of adornment made of gold, silver, precious and semi-precious metals, precious or semi-precious stones, gems or any other such materials.