Inland revenue law expected

Sales tax, income tax, federal excise duty rules to be integrated into a single inland revenue law, says FBR official.

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has, in principle, decided to integrate income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty regulations into a single inland revenue law, according to a senior official of the FBR.

The official told The Express Tribune that work was underway to develop a draft for the new law.

He added that discussions on the integrated tax management system were supposed to be held during the FBR’s board-in-council meeting on Tuesday, but the presentation by FBR Members for Customs Muneer Qureishi and Chaudhry Azam was postponed following lengthy discussions on issues related to the reformed general sales tax (RGST) and the centralised sales tax refund system.

During the meeting, the proposal to outsource the drafting of the law to consultants was supposed to be discussed. The issue will now be raised during the next meeting of the FBR’s board-in-council.

An inland revenue service, complete with officers and field formations, has been formed under the Finance Act of 2010 but legislation is still needed to integrate the three taxes is still required. The inland revenue law seeks to bring uniformity through integration in the basic law underlying tax refunds, returns and times for appeal.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2010.