Small shopkeepers get Rs60,000 tax notices

KCCI urges PM to withdraw notices, defer Tajir Dost Scheme

KARACHI:

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh has stated that under the Tajir Dost Scheme, small traders and shopkeepers are being served notices for submitting a hefty tax of Rs60,000 every month, which is not affordable at all for any shopkeeper.

In a statement on Saturday, Sheikh stressed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) must be directed to immediately withdraw all the notices whereas the implementation of Tajir Dost Scheme must be deferred for at least three months.

He appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to realise the hardships being faced by shopkeepers, while the FBR must be refrained from demanding such an unrealistic tax.

"The KCCI completely rejects all such actions being taken under the Tajir Dost Scheme, which is not friendly at all; therefore, its implementation must be postponed until it is actually made a friendly scheme after consultation with the business community."

The KCCI president said it seemed that tax officials were trying to make the Tajir Dost Scheme a failure as notices were being served to everyone including the registered and unregistered individuals.

Although it was assured that a mere tax of not more than Rs1,000 to Rs1,200 would be taken from small shopkeepers, it wasn't happening at all as everyone had been served notices to submit the unbearably high tax of Rs60,000.

He said the Tajir Dost Scheme, which was marred with serious flaws, needed to be revisited in consultation with all stakeholders so that the perturbed shopkeepers, who were already battling for survival at a time of high inflation, could be saved from disaster.

He said the inflation triggered by exorbitantly high utility tariffs had already created a situation wherein shopkeepers were hardly able to earn bread and butter. "In this scenario, the demand to submit the excessively high tax of Rs60,000 every month would leave no other choice but to close down shops forever, which will create more problems for the public and the economy."