All token tax collection to be handed over to NBP

Punjab Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department is set to withdraw powers from the general post office.

LAHORE: The Punjab Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department is set to withdraw powers from the general post office (GPO) and its subordinate offices to receive token tax levied on personal and commercial vehicles in the province.

A senior official of the E&T Department told The Express Tribune that the task would now be delegated to the National Bank of Pakistan. “The move is aimed at centralising the collection as well as data in one place for the convenience of the people,” he added.

Shamial Ahmed Khawaja, secretary of the department said that all branches of the National Bank were being authorised to receive token tax after an agreement was reached with the bank.

Masoodul Haq, deputy secretary (Technical), added that the government had also held talks with some other commercial banks but an agreement could not be reached.

Khawaja said that the concerned departments, Finance and Service and General Administration, had approved of the decision. A summary has been prepared and would be submitted to the Punjab chief secretary and the chief minister in a week, he added.

Another E&T official said that the existing tax collection mechanism was two-pronged; post offices and National Bank had been collecting the token tax for all vehicles registered with the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department. Post offices had been collecting the tax for personal vehicles while the National Bank had been entrusted with tax collection from owners of goods and passenger transport vehicles, he added. The hybrid system had been a nuisance. “For example, if a person living in Lahore shifted to another district, he had to send the token tax file back to the post office situated in Lahore. Moreover, if he needed to change the post office at which he deposited the tax, he had to apply for an NOC to the Excise and Taxation Department located at Faridkot House,” he added.  The official said that a number of people had complained about the prevalent system.

He added that another problem had been the consolidation of the token tax data from post offices and the National Bank. “E&T ended up spending a lot of money interpreting the data after collecting them from both channels.

Under the new system, all data would be available with the National Bank and transferred to the department on fast track,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2010.