Provinces wonder what is ‘substantial’

Delay in consensus feared to push imposition of RGST beyond the stated deadline of November 1.

ISLAMABAD: Provinces are unable to arrive at a common definition for the term ‘substantial’ and the delay in arriving at a consensus is feared to push the imposition of RGST beyond the stated deadline of November 1.

Compiling a list of stand-alone services and finalising the draft for the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) bill are on agenda for a high-level meeting in Islamabad scheduled for Thursday.

The meeting will be presided over by Finance Secretary Salman Siddiqui and attended by the four provincial finance secretaries and members of the committee constituted for stand-alone services.

The meeting will deliberate over a list of 24 stand alone services, placing those with ‘substantial’ inter-provincial input tax adjustment under the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) purview, according to sources. Collection of RGST on four services has already been awarded to the FBR.

The committee, after finalising the list of stand-alone services, will submit its findings in a report which will be used for the compilation of the RGST bill, expected to be tabled in the next session of parliament.

The last meeting held for the same purpose, on October 8, failed after Punjab insisted on gathering data before deliberations.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2010.