PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has started implementation of restaurants invoice monitoring system (RIMS) in eateries across the province to ensure transparency in revenue collection.

A statement issued here said that the computer-based system “RIMS” enabled KPRA to get access to real time data of a restaurant sales and tax collection, ensuring complete transparency in tax collected by the restaurant from the consumers.

It said that KPRA started integration of RIMS with the restaurants across the province and initially three restaurants in Kohat, Nowshera and Abbottabad installed the system and started working.

The statement said that notices to restaurants were issued, directing them to integrate their systems with KPRA. It said that IT teams of the authority were visiting restaurants in different cities for integrating their system with RIMS.

Move to bring transparency in revenue collection

“Where there is no system, the IT team can install a programme for them which will be connected with KPRA and the restaurant can also use it as its point of sale,” said the statement. The system needs a computer, a printer and internet for getting operational.

The KPRA only gets access to sales and tax collected at each invoice and as a rebate it has reduced sales tax on services rates from 8 per cent to only 5 per cent for restaurants having RIMS installed and operational.

The system also empowers the taxpayers to check their invoices through KPRA website to make sure that the tax they pay at a restaurant has reached the authority.

“We believe in transparency and automation brings transparency. RIMS is a step towards transparency and automation. It is a part of the reforms KPRA is implementing in its operations,” said Fayyaz Ali Shah, the director general of the authority in his statement.

He said that KPRA was grateful to those restaurants that installed RIMS and as gift the authority was charging 5 per cent tax from them instead of 8 per cent. He urged the restaurant owners to adopt the system for their own benefit in terms of earning good reputation and for the benefit of their customers, who would not have to pay 8 per cent sales tax on services.

The director general said that all the restaurants across the province would have to adopt the system. He said that KPRA was working with restaurants for integration of the system.

He said that the costumers should ask about the taxes they paid at the restaurants. “Citizens should ask the restaurant owners to install RIMS to make sure that the tax they pay reaches the government, which spends it on the uplift of the province,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2021