President of MCCI said that Section 40 and 38-B are being badly used by the FBR staff. They are visiting business premises to harass the business community. They not only take shocking measures to raise illegal tax demands without providing any supporting document but also carry all the available records with them. He was of the view that teams from tax department should visit the markets, if indispensable, but they should immediately stop harassing business community. He said that if there is an urgent need for stock taking and ascertaining the Sales Tax liability of any particular business unit, the FBR officials should take association concerned or the Multan chamber on board.
Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan said that indirect taxes are being removed gradually throughout the world bit in Pakistan these are contributing around 60 percent to the revenue despite the fact that expenses on this practice are higher than the collections. All the participants said that FBR should stop harassing filers as non-filers and ones outside the tax net are not accounted for at all which discourages businesses to come into the tax net. Registered businesses are required to comply with various departments involving a lot of financial and time resources whereas unregistered businesses are free from all such hassles.
Awan said that there are 3.5 million registered taxpayers out of which only around 1 million file their tax returns. The government should take all the measures to ensure filing of returns by remaining 2.5 million individuals and businesses. The government claims that it always acts as a facilitator but in this scenario it is entirely otherwise,he said.
MCCI Chief said that attaching bank accounts for recovery of outstanding dues is hampering business growth and tarnishing the business-friendly image of the government. He said that bank accounts should not be attached without prior notice to the taxpayer and after seeking approval in writing of Chief commissioner of RTO in the light of reply submitted by the taxpayer. The recovery should be after the decision of the tribunal and not before that. He hoped that FBR will withdraw withholding tax on banking transactions and unlimited discretionary powers to the tax official in the larger interest of the trade and industry.
