Sales tax on wheat to be withdrawn: mill owners

Mill strikes called off after ‘successful’ meeting with FBR chief, Tareen

LAHORE: Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has withdrawn its strike call after the federal government agreed to grant a sales tax exemption on choker (bran) wheat.

Meanwhile, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also transferred the Inland Revenue commissioner in Gujranwala for reportedly harassing floor mils owners over nonpayment of sales tax.

In 2018, the former PML-N government had assured flour mill owners that there would be no duties imposed on choker wheat. After the withdrawal of GST, the price of a 20-kg bag of flour in Punjab would return to Rs770.

Sources said a delegation led by PFMA members including Asim Raza, Hafiz Ahmed and Mian Riaz met Jahangir Tareen and FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi on Tuesday upon instructions from Prime Minister Imran Khan. The flour mill owners maintained that they were forced to increase the price of flour bags by Rs10 to Rs15 after imposition of a 17 per cent tax on choker flour.

They said that the former government, after taking note of the PFMA protest, had assured mill owners through an SRO that the commodity would not be taxed, but after this government imposed the new tax, Inland Revenue commissioners have begun issuing show-cause notices and harassing mills owners.

According to sources, the FBR chairman and Tareen assured the mill owners that tax is now being formally withdrawn and a summary in this regard will soon be forwarded to the federal cabinet. The proposal will also call for the cancellation of previous dues.

During the meeting, Zaidi also criticised PFMA representatives for their anti-FBR statements. He said that flour mill owners had been irresponsibly giving statements on the media against FBR, even though the government had not imposed any tax on the price of atta or white flour, while multiple public circulars were also released for clarification.

PFMA leader Asim Raza told The Express Tribune that the meeting was immensely successful. “All of our demands have been accepted by the government, after which PFMA has called off the strike,” he said, adding that flour mills will continue operations without increasing prices for consumers.