Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is committed to bringing the undocumented Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) into the national tax net, a news source quoted FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi as saying.
The FBR chairman was speaking at an ‘Innovative Finance Forum’ organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as part of its collaborative effort with Karandaaz Pakistan and Gates & Melinda Foundation.
Zaidi stated that they were going to expand the tax net by adding SMEs not paying their taxes through the recently launched documentation campaign. He added that incumbent government was committed to promoting economic activity because their slowdown would prevent achieving the tax collection target.
The FBR chairman revealed that businesses were growing but the balance sheets and wealth statement remained stagnant. He said that there was lack of trust between SMEs and taxpersons. He added that the undocumented SMEs would become unable to access facilities like land, electricity and gas for running their operations, along with losing access to credit from the banking sector.
Zaidi said that FBR was planning to develop separate tax laws for the SME sector to make registration for the tax system simpler and easier. He added that they would simplify laws pertaining to sales tax, income tax, customs duty, and federal excise duty.
