Reporting of bank interest to Revenue Board withdrawn

Published on 7/28/2003

KARACHI (July 27 2003) : The government has decided to withdraw reporting of bank interest to the Central Board of Revenue (CBR).

This was announced by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz while talking to a delegation of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), which had called on him at the State Bank here on Saturday.

Earlier, the SBP had directed all the banks and DFIs to report all interest income Rs 10,000 upwards to the Central Board of Revenue.

Following decisions relating to irritants of sales tax were also taken in the meeting :

It was decided that the CBR would issue instructions to its field formations for immediate redressal of grievances faced by the taxpayers with regard to provision of Section 73 of the Sales Tax Act.

This would remove the difficulties regarding cheques issued in the last 3-4 days of a month.

It was also decided that all manufacturers not operating under any of the survey schemes of CBRs would be excluded from the purview of SRO 507.

The finance minister also invited FPCCI to select industries presently operating under survey scheme for similar exclusion from SRO 507 on trial basis. He asked the FPCCI to nominate representatives in each zone who would accompany the sales tax officers visiting premises of a taxpayer.

The finance minister also asked the FPCCI to send self-contained proposals with regard to further tax and SRO 554 and other issues so that instructions are issued aimed at facilitating and smooth conducting of business.

According to a press release, issued by the FPCCI, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz assured the apex trade body that the government believes in mutual interaction with the business and trade community of the country.

This mutual cooperation, he said, will go a long way in achieving the target of economic growth and prosperity.

He informed the delegation that encouraging macro-economic indicators have finally been reflected in the growth of over five percent during the preceding financial year, which is expected to accelerate further to touch 5.3 percent or more during the current financial year.

The generation of revenue Rs 460 billion by CBR is also attributable to the economic growth.

The revenue follows the growth and not vice-versa, he said, adding that the economy is on the upsurge and market is buzzing with trade activities. Enhanced sales of consumer goods will augur well for the overall economic scenario.

"The government intends to prepay about US$ one billion loan over and above the normal repayments to the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank (ADB)," he said and assured that with the strength of the current economic stability, the foreign exchange reserves would continue to grow in spite of these huge repayment of loans.

The finance minister invited the private sector to take full advantage of the available opportunity and make use of the tremendously reduced cost of borrowing for generation of investment in the country.

He appreciated the role of responsible private sector, particularly the contribution of the textile industries, in making economic growth possible.

He warned against any complacency and urged the industry to prepare for stiff quota-free competition in the post-2005 international markets.

Riaz Ahmed Tata, President FPCCI, congratulated Shaukat Aziz on his successful visit to USA and on CBRs record revenue collection.

He thanked him for his consultations with trade and business community in policy making.

This would create an environment of better understanding towards amicable solutions of problems faced by trade and industry.

The meeting was also attended by member exports Mumtaz Haider Rizvi, member sales tax Mohammad Ramzan Bhatti.

The FPCCI president was assisted by vice-presidents Engr. M.A.Jabbar and Arshad Alam.

Courtesy of Business Recorder