Islamabad : Fatima Azim, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) said that the business community of the entire country was demanding extension in the relief package for the construction industry as insufficient time was given to take advantage of it and hailed the announcement of the Prime Minister Imran Khan to extend this package for another year. She termed it a very commendable decision as it would prove highly beneficial for the country and steer the economy out of current difficulties towards better recovery and growth.

Fatma Azim said that the PM has extended the fixed tax regime for the construction sector for one and the facility of non-disclosure of source of income for six months, which was very encouraging. She said that the business community has also welcomed the one year’s extension in the period for construction projects by allowing them to be completed by 2023 which would facilitate initiation and execution of more projects in this important sector. She said that many other industries were associated with the construction industry so the expansion of the construction package would not only boost the business of all allied industries, it would also increase investment and create plenty of new jobs leading to reduction in unemployment and poverty.

ICCI Acting President further said that the business activities have been badly hit by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, which has prevented many members of the business community from filing their income tax returns. Therefore, she appealed to the Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh to allow sufficient extension in the period for filing of income tax returns so that more members of the business community could file their income tax returns with ease.

Abdul Rehman Khan, Vice President ICCI said that former Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi had stopped the tax department from recovering cash from the bank accounts to save the business community from unnecessary problems. However, the process of recovery from the bank accounts of the business community has been started again by the FBR, which has created a lot of concerns in the business sector. He demanded that the recovery from the bank accounts under Section 140 should be stopped immediately and legal procedure should be adopted to expand the tax base of the country.