The business community in a meeting chaired by Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has called upon the FBR to defer the installation of POS machines in business premises till the time all the reservations of traders are addressed and consensus is developed on this important issue. Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI, Ajmal Baloch President Anjuman-e-Tijaran Pakistan, Tahir Abbasi, Muhammad Saeed Khan, Shehzad Shabbir Abbasi, Ahmed Khan, Abdul Rehman Siddiqui, Khalid Chaudhry and others were in the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President ICCI said that FBR should take traders and all market associations on board before installation of POS machines in the retail units that would help in broadening the tax base and improving the tax revenue of the country. He said that instead of a POS system, the government should prefer promoting the self-assessment scheme as the business community has more confidence in this scheme and will be more willing to pay tax through the self-assessment system. He said that in the prevailing circumstances, a self-assessment scheme would be more instrumental in improving the tax revenue collection of the country.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that the traders have been fully cooperating with the government in the corona vaccination drive and they should be engaged in talks on POS issues instead of sending FBR’s teams to monitor their sale at business premises. Presence of FBR teams in business premises would not send a positive signal to the trading community.
Ajmal Baloch, President, Anjuman-e-Tijaran Pakistan said that the traders have a lot of reservations on the installation of POS machines at retail outlets and FBR should first address all their concerns before going ahead with this new system. He said that traders would not accept forceful implementation of the POS system and if any coercive tactics are used, the government would be responsible for the consequences. He said that traders are playing an important role in promoting the business activities they should be treated with due respect and regard. He stressed that FBR should immediately withdraw all monitoring teams from business premises and the installation of POS machines should be deferred till the time all the stakeholders are fully taken on board so that with joint efforts, the tax revenue of the country could be improved.