The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has achieved a growth of around 9 percent in its sales tax collection, reaching Rs. 70 billion in the first three-quarters of FY2018-19.
The sales tax collection of the board in the corresponding period of the previous year was recorded at Rs. 64 billion, thus marking a noteworthy growth. The growth occurred regardless of the suspension of sales tax collection on prepaid and post-paid cellular phone services by the Supreme Court since July 2018.
The SRB was collecting up to 10 percent sales tax from telecom services previously, which amounted to some Rs. 1 billion every month.
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Nevertheless, the board managed to include 4,007 individuals in the tax net to offset the negative impact on revenue collection in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
In March, the sales tax collection increased by 7.67 percent, reaching Rs. 9.251 billion from Rs. 8.591 billion in March last year.
According to a senior SRB official, the number of registered taxpayers increased to 30,472 by the end of the third quarter from 26,465 on July 1, 2018.
Notably, sales collection by the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) in the July-March period dropped by 7 percent to Rs. 69 billion from Rs. 74 billion collected in the corresponding period last year.
Furthermore, Sindh has the lowest sales tax rates on services at 13 percent. Punjab’s tax rate is 16 percent while Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa charge 15 percent.
Via: Dawn
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