Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) made strives again for the generation of tax in the undocumented sector as it succeeded to integrated 5,783 Points of Sales (POS) of 286 retailers with its system of real-time reporting of sales tax invoices.
“So far 5,783 POSs of 286 retailers have been integrated with FBR and the sales tax invoices issued by these POSs are being reported to FBR in real-time,” said an FBR statement adding that progress had been made possible with the continuous effort of the board and its field formations.
In order to ensure correct reporting of sales by retailers and realization of due tax from them, FBR had prescribed electronic integration of points of sales (POSs) of all tier-1 retailers of textile and leather sector in budget 2018-19.
Initially, the integration was optional, the statement said adding that for encouraging the same an incentive of reduced rate of sales tax was introduce by the board.
Under this integration, the retailers have to install software extension provided by FBR on their system, which ensures live reporting of sales tax to FBR’s server.
Live integration was operationalized with effect from 1st November 2018.
The benefit of the system is that a customer or tax officer can easily verify through FBR’s website or a mobile app that an invoice issued by the retailer has been duly reported to the Board and the tax charged thereon has been duly accounted for.
The provisions for mandatory integration of retailers were introduced in the Sales Tax Act, 1990, through the Finance Act, 2019, and proper rules were laid down.
The deadline of December 15, 2019, was provided for all retailers to integrate their POSs with FBR. Despite technical difficulties faced by the retailers, the process of integration has been proceeding smoothly as claimed by FBR.
The board has conducted a series of meetings, seminars and workshops across the country to educate and persuade retailers for integration. In this connection, focal persons have been notified in each RTO / LTU to assist and facilitate retailers.
Moreover, helpdesks have also been established in air-conditioned malls to educate and facilitate retailers. The complete information could be obtained on FBR’s website on its POS page.
