FBR Likely to Exempt Retailers From Sales Tax With Annual Turnover Less Than Rs. 100 Million

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will exempt retailers/shopkeepers from tax audits and scrap sales tax on traders with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 100 million, high-level sources told ProPakistani. A time-sensitive meeting between FBR and representatives from the business community is set for today at 3:00 PM. Sources said following the meeting, significant amendments to the Tajir Dost Scheme will be announced. The amendments include empowering merchants’ representatives to determine retailer taxes and conferring the powers of the FBR Board onto Commissioners. The amendments will also include provisions to exempt small businessmen from tax audits, with a draft of this exemption already prepared. Sources added that the revision of the income tax table under the scheme is very likely, along with the possible introduction of a tax return form in plain Urdu, making it more accessible to traders. This comes after FBR first asked the traders’ community to have a detailed meeting on August 27 (today) before taking any extreme measure of a shutter-down strike on August 28 in protest against the “trader-friendly scheme”.