CBR to hold moot on e-commerce, taxation

Published on 1/14/2003

KARACHI, Jan 13: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is planning to organize a national conference on e-commerce and taxation and will also solicit tax experts in formulating laws relating to e-commerce and taxation.

This was stated by member of tax reforms CBR, M S Lal while speaking as chief guest at a seminar on Monday, organized by Income Tax Bar Association, Karachi (ITBAK), held in the conference hall of new income tax building.

He said present Income Tax Ordinance 2001 was the most modern tax and model document in the region and during the drafting of the law all care was taken that it also meets the requirement of e-commerce. Mr Lal also briefly mentioned the reforms brought about by the CBR in the shape of Large Taxpayer Unit to facilitate the highest taxpayers in respect of all taxation laws.

Tax bar president Abdul Quadir Memon appreciated the efforts of CBR in bringing the tax reforms in the last three years. He said the government and professionals must consider the resolution of important matters which the country would confront in the years to come.

He said: "We should find answer to how existing concept used in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) model convention can be applied in e-commerce and examine the long-term implementation of the permanent establishment and royalties concepts."

Similarly, he said as part of the monitoring process for the OECD transfer pricing guidelines, "we must invite descriptions of situations that would raise new or difficult transfer pricing issues for which the OECD model may be inadequate." There is also a need to evaluate threats and opportunities e-commerce may have on basic compliance and avoidance and evasion issues.

Abdul Quadir also stressed upon the need to examine the application of the place of supply rules to certain online supplies of the digitized information and the disappearing difference between goods and services as a result of online supplies.

Courtesy of Daily Dawn