ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is so determined for the nation's progress and to keep pace with the modern world, has started many programs like Speedy Legislation for Stopping Lands Use Changes, and now one more step towards advancement and digitalization of the country, in order to facilitate the taxpayers and to ensure the ease of doing business is all set to launch the Single Sales Tax Portal by the end of the ongoing month. The long-awaited single sales tax return and a single portal are being introduced after a long debate and discussion between the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and provincial revenue authorities. The much-needed development made under the World Bank loan would enable the masses to file a single GST return for goods and services instead of filing five returns every month.
The consensus and the Memorandum of understanding between the center and the provinces have already been signed. The most difficult part of the MOU was how to define goods and services since the GST on goods falls under the federal government while on services under provinces, this issue became the major reason for the delay before reaching a final agreement among all the stakeholders for introducing a single portal. The National Tax Council, a top tax body with its representation in all provinces played a vital role in developing consensus between the center and the provinces.
In its announcement, the federal Revenue Authority said that it is moving further on its vision to facilitate taxpayers and ensure ease of doing business by introducing facilities like automation, digitization with minimum human interaction, the FBR said they are all set to launch Single Sales Tax Portal during November 2021. The single portal will not only facilitate the taxpayer to file a single GST return instead of five to six in a month but also help the revenue collecting body to keep an eye on the taxpayer across the country to maximize revenue generation in an efficient and transparent manner. It will also save the time and cost of both the taxpayer and the revenue collectors. The system would be efficient enough to collect revenue from an individual and distribute it among all the stakeholders.
According to the FBR, the unique Single Sales Tax Portal Project would help resolve the long-standing issues of input tax adjustment among the relevant stakeholders. The inauguration of the system, The FBR sources said, the existing worn out processes will be replaced by the efficient and automated system of tax adjustment with least human involvement would also create harmonization among the federating units. “By all standards, this is a giant leap forward in Taxpayers Facilitation and at the same time, a significant step in harmonization of taxes between federal and provincial governments”, The FBR said.
