The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the government to make categories of traders and announce fixed tax regime for them to facilitate them in discharging tax obligations.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Finance Bill 2019-20 has imposed many taxes on traders due to which they were protesting against tax measures across the country. He urged that government should announce category-wise fixed tax regime for traders that would promote tax compliance in trading community and help in removing tax revenue of the government as well. He was of the view that fixed tax regime would minimize interaction between taxpayers and tax collectors and eliminate the chances of corruption.
ICCI President said that Finance Bill 2019 has bound manufacturers, importers, distributors and wholesalers to write CNIC numbers of purchasers on bills and also collect the amount exceeding Rs.50,000 through cheque. He said these measures have enhanced the problems for traders and urged that government should withdraw them to facilitate the trading community.
Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that government has bound all commercial importers to write selling prices on imported products while the value addition tax would be collected on retail price. He said that traders were not happy with such decisions of the government and emphasized that government should revise them.They said that under the new rules, shopkeepers and traders with sales exceeding Rs.10 million per annum will automatically become withholding tax agents and deduct 4.5 percent tax from the suppliers while they will also submit income tax returns after every six months. They said that these measures of the government have placed extra burden on traders as they would have to spend lot of time to meet the withholding tax requirements. They stressed that government should withdraw such anti-business measures. They said that instead of putting more tax burden and additional requirements on traders, government should promote ease of doing business for them that would facilitate the growth of business activities and help the economy to recover fast.