Objection: LCCI wants govt to review new audit policy

Officials say FBR needs to consult with stakeholders

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to avoid implementation of the Audit Policy 2016 until reservations of the business community are addressed.

“FBR should not act as a troublemaker but as a facilitator for the business community,” said LCCI President Abdul Basit in a press conference Friday.

“Pakistan is ranked at 156 out of 190 nations when it comes to paying taxes, and has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world,” said Basit, adding that tax-to-GDP ratio in the 1980s in Pakistan was 14%, which has now dropped to around 10.5%.

The LCCI officials suggested that the FBR should complete its homework and remove flaws in its own system. They said that the Audit Policy 2016 will open the floodgates of corruption.

Reportedly, the FBR has approved the Audit Policy 2016 without taking stakeholders into confidence, said the LCCI president. There is a major policy shift that already audited taxpayers can be selected again for audit through this policy, which is by no means acceptable to the business community. We propose to the government to exempt the already audited taxpayers for at least two years, he added.

He said that under the new Audit Policy 2016 all NTN holders, salaried person and even pensioners have come into the “audit net”.

Basit urged the FBR to avoid sudden policy shifts in the larger interest of trade, industry and economy.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2016.

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