ISLAMABAD – The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Tuesday constituted a sub-committee on “The Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024” after lawmakers expressed concerns on it.
The meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue was held Tuesday in the Parliament House, Islamabad, under the chairmanship of Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA/chairman. The committee considered “The Tax Laws (Amendment)Bill, 2024” (Government Bill). The Minister of State for Finance and Revenue briefed the Committee on the background of the proposed Amendments. The Chairman FBR presented an overview on the Amendments.
The Committee expressed concerns on some Amendments. The members pointed out challenges related to significant corruptions and capacity issues within the FBR. The members also observed serious economic implications for the country. The chairman emphasized the need to increase overall tax collection and enhance the registration of fillers in the network and directed the chairman FBR to address the controversies in the Bill and propose solutions to mitigate the economic impacts of the bill in the country.
The chair urged the Finance Division to take all stakeholders into confidence and remove anomalies. The chair directed the FBR to revisit the registration process and prepare an easy, user-friendly, and trouble-free procedure for a layman. The Committee appointed a Sub-Committee comprising of Bilal Azhar Kayani, MNA/Convener, Syed Sami Ul Hasan Gilani, Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Usama Ahmed Mela, MNAs as members, and Muhammad Mobeen Arif, MNA as Special Invitee. As per the Terms of Reference (TOR), “the Sub-Committee will ensure that the Revenue Division engages the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) to determine the quantum and timeline for eligibility”.
The Sub-Committee will submit its report within 10 days, with the first meeting scheduled for Thursday, at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) House, Islamabad. Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said that there is hundreds of billions of rupees sales tax evasion in different sectors in the country. He said that the government is working to bring majority of the manufacturers in the tax net as they are not registered in the sales tax and in this regard, the government would issue Sales Tax General Order. Chairman said that FBR is seeking power to close the bank accounts of the people who are not paying the taxes. The committee members expressed concerns on proposal.
The sub-committee will review the limit of investment in real estate and eligibility criteria for the filers and submit its recommendations within ten days. During the meeting, Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Arshad Mehmood Langrial told the participants that under the new law, amendments have been made based on the eligibility of the tax return filer and eligible taxpayer can add the name of his wife, unmarried daughter and son below 25 years of age in his tax returns. Rashid Mahmood said that under the new law, the buyers of 5 to 10 marla houses are not being banned. Earlier on December 26, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance approved the Tax Laws Amendment Bill, 2024. He said under new legislation non-filers were barred from buying big vehicles, property, bungalows, opening of bank accounts and purchase of shares.
FBR chairman had claimed that 95 percent of the citizens will not be affected by the amendments in tax laws and NA standing committee had asked tax auditors and experts to keep taxpayers’ data confidential while only eligible filers were allowed to buy big cars, open bank accounts and buy shares. The meeting was attended by Bilal Azhar Kayani, Rana Iradat Sharif Khan, Syed Sami Ul Hassan Gilani, Ms Zeb Jaffar, Ms Hina Rabbani Khar, Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Muhammad Jawed Hanif Khan, Arshad Abdullah Vohra, Shahram Khan, Muhammad Mobeen Arif, Usman Mela, and Ms Shahida Begum, MNAs. The meeting was also attended by Ali Pervaiz Malik, Minister of State for Finance, Secretary Finance, chairman FBR, and other senior officers from the Ministry.
