Kashif Anwar wants withdrawal of amendments in section 156 of Customs Act
ISLAMABAD: The Friends of Economic & Business Reforms (FEBR) has rejected the new amendments in section 156 of the Customs Act, urging the finance minister to withdraw the changes from the Finance Bill 2021-22, as it restricts the importers to attach the invoices with the shipment otherwise they would face huge fines and other severe actions for this minor violation.
The FEBR President Kashif Anwar, in a letter sent to the Finance Minister and the Federal Board of Revenue, suggested that the all stakeholders should be taken onboard for this process of documentation, as the government can make it mandatory for shipping lines, restricting banks to open LCs (letters of credit) only in presence of packing list and invoice, he suggested.
He observed that the introduction of penalties and confiscation of goods for not attaching the invoice list in the container does not match with the FBR’s claim of excluding human interaction in clearance of goods and payment of taxes. He added that the present trade includes different destinations of negotiations and transshipment and origins of goods in which the process and procedure of exporting destination may not accommodate such provision of putting invoice in the containers, hence, this proposal in the budget should be withdrawn.
He said that the business community should be allowed to play their role in national development through production and exports with peace of mind. He said that unregistered businessmen should be attracted to the tax net through incentives to expand the tax net.
Kashif Anwar has said that the government is adding up tensions for registered businesses, as all the legal formalities are only for those who are in the tax net and who are more documented.
In the letter, he said that the FEBR appreciates your measures to document the economy thereby enabling the present government to achieve a milestone of enhancing the tax base but more efforts are needed to facilitate the taxpayers and documented sectors.”
Calling for reducing the rate of fines, penalties and surcharges, Kashif Anwar said that people outside tax net are very happy since all the legal practices, laws and SRO’s are for those who are already in tax net.
A registered person has to deal with several departments like Sales Tax, Income Tax, EOAB, Social Security, Education Cess and Labor etc.
The FEBR President said that powers of taxpayers should be increased with the powers of tax collectors while action should be taken against those assessing officers whose assessments are reverted back by higher courts and tribunal. He also suggested to impose regulatory Duty, Customs Duty and Additional Customs Duty on Raw Materials which are produced locally in Pakistan while CD & RD should not be imposed on those raw materials which are not produced locally.