Syed Ijaz Hussain Shah, Chief Commissioner, Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) and Mrs. Fareeda Amjad, Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office (RTO) along with Commissioners (IR) Zone-I&II called on Mahfooz Elahi, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).

Syed Ijaz Hussain Shah, Chief Commissioner LTU emphasized on monitoring and enforcement mechanism to plug leakages in the system. He said that refund procedures have been streamlined by computerised record of challans and computerised payment receipts.

He said that harassment issues would be dealt with open door policy and intended to remove the trust deficit between taxpayers and the tax officials for widening the tax base.

Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Fareeda Amjad, Chief Commissioner RTO said that small taxpayers were unaware about the legal and technical terms of the tax levied and its related rules and procedures. There was a need to educate the small and medium taxpayers about the basics of sales tax registration and other procedures of sales tax laws, she added.

Mahfooz Elahi, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) expressing his views, said that by ensuring the transparency, accountability and access to justice, tax culture could be improved in Pakistan.

He emphasized on winning the public confidence by improving governance, eradicating corruption and pursuing equitable tax policies were essential for revamping tax collection system, and unless some concrete measures was taken on these lines, then the anxiety about not being able to pull the economy out of mounting debt and public expenditure would linger.