Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi on Saturday said the government’s main focus was on building houses, as the construction sector promotes the rest of the industries, but acknowledged that industrialists had been facing difficulty in customs.
He said that capital gain on properties had marginally decreased. He further said that FBR evaluation of real estate would be announced in a few days. Prime Minister Imran Khan has given directives to pay focus on the construction sector, he added.
The FBR chairman said that he was instructed to take action against smuggled goods in the market but no action was taken to avoid spreading intimidation among the marketeers.
He further stated that cost will be mentioned on the exported goods to avoid the under invoicing.
Shabbar Zaidi asserted that he, himself, adjusted the sales tax system and swore to adjust the duty if needed. “We will talk to zero-rated sector again if refund system fails to work”, he maintained.
“Retail price will be printed on the imported goods as well”. He said that they are ready to have a sit-in with trader community to resolve the problems.
He further said that taxes on sugarcane dealers were not increased. Taxes on sugar and cement dealers were decreased by only Rs 0.25. I am responsible for only increasing Rs 3.26 on sugar, he added.
Talking about the smuggling, FBR chairman expressed that problems arise due to Afghan transit trade, smuggling and under-invoicing.
Shabbar Zaidi asserted that audit of the same person being carried out repeatedly. He maintained that he agrees that audit does not produce result but is a form of harassment for the people.
He went on saying that they only levied tax on dividend where it did not have taxes before. General trader can’t pay taxes according to 340 pages long book, he added.
He further added he will aware the PM if tax won’t be added into the net tax which will be decided by Chambers. We are ready to provide SMC with alternated law as well, he added.
The FBR chairman said he is worried over the exclusion of distributor tax from the tax net to adjust the duty.
