He further said that there was no concept of zero rated in SST on services SRB rules, any services rendered in Sindh were considered as taxable services and added that they have no authority to make SST exempted on the services rendered in Sindh but consumed outside the province.
Kazmi said that deliberations on the issues raised between provincial revenue authorities were initiated and the first meeting in this regard was convened in Peshawar. He said he hoped that all issues among provincial revenue authorities would be resolved in meetings to be held in other provincial capitals. He said that the purpose to impose sales tax was meant to document the economy and revenue generation, and added that all suggestions given by the KTBA would be considered to facilitate the taxpayers at maximum level.
Earlier, Adnan Mufti, FCA, Partner - Shekha & Mufti, Chartered Accountants in his electronic presentation gave in-depth understanding on Sindh Finance Act 2017. He said that SRB, through notification 3-4/11/2017, reduced SST rates from 10 percent to 8 percent on the services of travel agents and tour operators, 3 percent on renting of immovable property services and 3 percent on indenter and call centre services.
He said that Section 66 restrained the SRB officer from issuing recovery notice to the taxpayer for recovery of assessed taxes till the decision of Commissioner (Appeals), if the taxpayer pays 25 percent of tax due framed in the assessment order and added that this provision proposed harmonization of recovery provisions between federal and other provincial statues.
He stated that right of appeal had now been granted to persons who feel aggrieved by an order or decision regarding de-registration under Section 25A of the Act, which was previously not been available. Mufti said that the new Section 54A was inserted whereby SRB was empowered to specify procedure for monitoring or tracking of provision of service or services through electronic or other means and added that SRB may also devise and implement an electronic system for transferring the information to the computer systems of the board on real time basis or otherwise.
He said that SRB officer could now recover tax without issuance of show cause notice in case where a registered person paid the amount of tax less than the tax due as indicated in its return. Such short-payment of tax along with default surcharge can be recovered from such person by attaching his bank accounts. No penalty under section 43 of the Act can be imposed unless a show cause notice is issued to such person.
However, similar provision, Section 11A, is available under the Sales Tax Act, 1990, against which the High Court has already declared such recovery action as null and void, he said. He said that the time limit for issuance of assessment order had been increased from 120 days to 180 days in order to avoid adverse judgments from the superior courts.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017