ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday extended the deadline to June 30 for Tier-1 retailers to integrate their point of sales (PoS) with its online tax system.

A circular issued by the FBR said that all Tier-1 retailers will furnish in writing their willingness to integrate all their POS with the respective regional tax officers (RTOs) and Large Taxpayers Units (LTUs) by June 20 to avail the facility of the extended time.

The first deadline for POS integration with FBR’s online system was December 15, 2019. However, in 2020, it was extended to March 30 and then to April 30 to facilitate retailers amid the lockdown.

Tier-1 retailers are classified as those located at luxurious shopping malls, retail chains and stores having floor space of 1,000 square feet.

To contain the spread of coronavirus, the government has forcefully locked down all major shopping malls and plazas as preventive measures across the country. In most of the markets across Pakistan, only those shops selling groceries, fruits and vegetables have been allowed to keep the shutters open for limited time.

For documentation, as held out to the International Monetary Fund under the extended fund facility, FBR has worked out a comprehensive plan to install PoS systems at outlets across the country in the current fiscal year to document sales of big retailers who are, as per some estimates, evading taxes worth billions of rupees.

Under the system, registration is the first step which is followed by the installation of POS at respective outlets. Following the installation of POS, big retailers will report their sales in real-time to the FBR to ensure tax collected from consumers at the cash counter are actually deposited with the government.

Currently, almost 4,000 shops are registered with the POS systems. FBR expects to get a maximum number by June 30. The total number of shops which will be brought on the system is over 16,000.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2020