The Senate Finance and Revenue Committee has approved a government plan to bring a one-page return scheme for small traders.
The Committee on Thursday met under the chair of Senator Saleem Mandviwala.
Chairman FBR told the committee that the government wants to bring 2 million small traders into the tax net.
A single-page return scheme will be introduced instead of the scheme of collecting fixed tax from the shopkeepers through the electricity bill, he told the committee members. The committee approved the introduction of a one-page return scheme to bring 2 million retailers (shopkeepers) into the tax net.
Member IR Policy also briefed that FBR has proposed a tax on unmanufactured tobacco from Rs. 10 to Rs. 390 per kilogram. The Finance committee rejected Rs. 390 tax per kilogram on unmanufactured tobacco.
Member IR policy also briefed that FBR has also proposed to increase FED per thousand Cigarettes to Rs. 6,500 from Rs. 5,900 under Tier I. Similarly, Under Tier II, FED per thousand Cigarettes has been proposed to Rs. 2,050 from Rs. 1,850.
The Committee accepted the amendment of the increased rate of FED per thousand Cigarettes in Tier-1 and Tier-II. Similarly, the committee also rejected a proposal to restore tax exemption for Kuwait Trading Investment Company.
The Chairman committee stated that the amendments should apply to all foreign companies instead of one company. The committee also approved the exemption of capital value tax on vehicles imported for the diplomatic, transport sector, and agriculture purposes.
The committee also gave the approval to withdraw tax levied on allowances of Pakistani officers and employees abroad. Similarly, the Finance committee also approved exemption for a transporter from road tax till June 30, 2023.
With certain amendments, the committee has approved the Money Bill, the Tax Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022.
This is indeed a good step to bring them into tax net, in a longer run it govt should consider digitalising the payment system to see what is actually being moving in market. We need agriculture to be taxed on urgent basis which is mostly under politicians ownership and no govt want to speak about. Rich is still excluded in most ways.