Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made it mandatory for people undertaking purchases of items in excess of PKR 50,000 to showcase their Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) to registered sales tax retailers involved in the transactions from the sales end, a news source reported.
For this purpose, the board has asked the provincial governments to make necessary arrangements as per the amendments communicated under the Sales Tax Act.
To facilitate the female buyers undertaking such transactions, the FBR has permitted them to provide the CNICs of their spouses or fathers. This new FBR regulation is not applicable on purchases below the prescribed amount.
Through the implementation of this policy, the FBR aims to document business-to-business transactions. According to the officials, such practices will help the taxation authority track fictitious transactions and identify unregistered retailers.
As per reports, at present, 41,484 pay sales tax on their businesses. And many small and medium-sized retailers are not included in the tax bracket, since their owners do not pay sales tax.
While the new announcement necessitates the availability of buyers’ CNICs for making purchases in excess of PKR 50,000, it also clarifies that the buyers undertaking such transactions do not have to be registered under the sales tax law.
In instances where the CNIC provided by the purchaser (spending PKR 50,000) isn’t authentic, no liability or penalty will be raised against the seller. In case the provided information is incorrect for buyers making purchases for goods/services in excess of PKR 5 million, the action will be taken after the member of operation or director general grants an approval.
