The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) recently issued SRO No. 350/(I)/2024 on March 7 to further record tax tasks and boost compliance, according to a letter from PTBA to Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. But after reviewing the SRO, the PTBA identified a number of issues that they feel need immediate fix.
Although the Bar acknowledged the FBR’s efforts and understood the significance of digitization, they contended that the new SRO does not sufficiently take into account a few key factors. The Bar forewarned in a letter that failure to address these issues could compromise economic activity and negatively affect tax revenue collection.
The PTBA has expressed worry over a number of issues, chief among them being the 30-day deadline for the public, organizations of individuals, and businesses with a single shareholder or member to complete their balance sheets. They proposed that the assessing officer could readily obtain this information, which is already obtainable to the authorities through income tax forms.
The PTBA suggested that the rule, which obliges that taxpayers with a turnover greater than five times their capital apply for permission from the Commissioner via the IRIS system, fails to take into consideration different forms of business funding, including credit facilities, bank loans, supplier advances, and personal loans. They recommended that the FBR identify these ways of financing and refrain from punishing taxpayers for gains in turnover resulting from these kinds of lawful economic operations.
They also discussed the new rule under sub-rule (3) of rule 30 that requires prior approval from the Commissioner before credit notes can be issued. They suggested that, given the specified sales threshold measurement, the Commissioner should have to grant approval for credit note issuance within 7 days of the request.
