Lahore:
The provincial tax authorities are expected to launch a single tax return
filing system for generating general sales tax (GST) under the federal government’s
ease-of-doing-business initiative, according to news sources.
This single tax return facility, in its initial phase scheduled for launch from this quarter onwards, will be available to the telecommunication industry. The reason for prioritising telecommunication is that provincial GST on telecom services is small in all four provinces, which makes it less prone to concur any issues.
The
single tax facility will be soon extended to the banking and insurance sector
in the existing financial year (2019-20) and in the following fiscal year, the
facility will encompass all industrial sectors.
In his briefing to the Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA), Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) Chairman Zainul Abideen Sahi said that all provincial bodies are were set to complete their tasks assigned to facilitate the launch of the single tax return system.
All the four revenue authorities
also agreed in principle to introduce single return available on the single
portal through Provincial Sales Tax Number (PSTN), for providing services across
the provincial jurisdictions, he added. Furthermore, he said that one return
technology for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will be finalised in the next
Inter-Provincial Committee (IPCC) meeting.
The PRA chief said that the aim
of IPCC is harmonisation of all service legislation to facilitate ease of doing
business and eliminate inter-provincial disharmonies and address double
taxation and transparent reporting issues.
He also disclosed that provincial
revenue authorities have also agreed to introduce a negative list of taxable
services and that Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has initiated a study in this
regard.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
