KARACHI: SITE Association of Trade and Industry on Friday hailed the very first decision by Shabbar Zaidi after assuming the charge as the chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regarding curtailing powers of tax officers in recovery cases.
“First decision taken by the Chairman will restore confidence of tax filers on FBR,” Saleem Parekh, President SAI, said in a statement
He said that the association was pleased with the balanced approach on handling recoveries taken by the freshly appointed Chairman FBR.
The condition of the Chairman’s approval before seizing bank accounts would make the process transparent by limiting the discretionary powers of field officers.
It is expected that the Chairman will devise policies that will channel the full force of FBR on broadening the tax base instead of subjecting the current tax payers to different types of annual audits.
The chairman must realize that the only way to broaden the tax base is to make the cost of doing business of non-filers more than the cost doing business of filers.
The current system is heavily in favour of non-filers. A filer is subjected to Income tax audit, sales tax audit, withholding tax audit & audits before issuance of Income tax exemptions u/s 153 and u/s 148 on an annual basis whereas non-filers are allowed to trade, buy cars and properties and travel.
The energies of FBR will be better spent if the focus is on non-filers who continue to enjoy many privileges with impunity.
He hoped that a culture of tax collection with transparency, respect and oversight will flourish under the dynamic leadership of Shabbar Zaidi where filers will be considered as partners of FBR instead of adversaries.
