KARACHI – Mr. Shaukat Tarin, Finance Minister, has promised to consult FPCCI every quarter now onwards to resolve businessmen issues efficiently and restore their confidence to promote private sector investments. He also announced that FBR will set up a help desk at FPCCI Head Office, Federation House, Karachi to facilitate resolution of discrepancies and issues in tax procedures.
Mr. Shaukat Tarin categorically stated that all currently issued notices will be withdrawn to put an end to the harassment and corruption; and now onwards, notices will be issued by third party auditors after due diligence. He also committed that we will be moving in the direction of self-assessment. He also promised that an FPCCI nominee will be inducted into all decision-making committees and boards of the federal ministries; including, Privatization Commission and FBR as the government realizes FPCCI’s role as the apex body and its active participation is warranted in all policymaking forums.
Khawaja Shahzeb Akram, SVP FPCCI, said that despite repeated promises by the government, FPCCI’s recommendations and proposals are ignored in budget and policymaking. He maintained that FPCCI does not propose anything for personal gains of office bearers; instead all recommendations are derived from a regular process of obtaining feedback from the business, industry and trade community of Pakistan. Addressing the concern, Mr. Shaukat Tarin said that he will make sure that this concern is addressed in his quarterly meetings with FPCCI.
Khawaja Shahzeb Akram also raised the issue of no respite to common man due to inflation that continues to remain at a very high level of 13% despite incessant hue and cry from all stakeholders. He added that SBP should bring down the policy interest rate to provide some breathing space to businessmen of the country. Answering the concern, Mr. Shaukat Tarin said that SBP is autonomous and he cannot dictate them on policy rate. He added that as the core inflation remains at 7%, he does not see a downward revision in the policy rate anytime soon.
Addressing the concerns over simplification of tax filing form and sales tax refunds, he advised the FBR Chairman to have a consultative meeting with FPCCI’s team and make necessary revisions to the form; whereas on sales tax returns, he said that the Ministry of Finance has cleared most of the backlog and remaining refunds will be cleared sooner than later.
At the start of the meeting at FPCCI, participants offered “Fateha” for the soul of deceased legendary business leader and a former President of FPCCI, Tariq Sayeed sb.
