Alvi allows tax exemption to library in Multan

President Dr Arif Alvi ordered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to issue the tax exemption certificate to a British-era library in Multan and directed the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) to return the Rs198,000 tax deduction to the library.

The president said that it was clearly a case of sympathy, as the Public Library and City Reading Room, Multan, had been registered as a non-profit organisation. He rejected the FBR's representation against the FTO's decision.

The tax assessment certificate was withheld because of a delay in the filing of return, the president said, but added that no damage to the national exchequer was done because of that delay. He said that the library was providing the facility of reading to the citizens of the area at nominal charges.

Multan library has about 400 members and very few staff on a low salary. The expenses of the library are met by donations and profits from its endowment. Due to non-issuance of exemption certificate, four employees had to lose their meagre salaries of less than Rs20,000.

The president noted that the FBR had already issued the exemption certificate for the six months, therefore, the exemption certificate should be issued for the first six months of the financial year, sympathy should be shown in the future too, he further said.