ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) briefed Muhammad Majid Qureshi, Advisor (IT), Federal Tax Ombudsman about the tax issues of Overseas Employment Promoters during his visit to ICCI. Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President, Muhammad Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI and representatives of Overseas Employment Promoters Association including Muhammad Saeed Khan, Dildar Abbasi, Muhammad Zia Qureshi, Ch. Muhammad Ali, Khalid Chaudhry and others were present at the occasion.
Muhammad Shakeel Munir called upon the government to introduce a uniform sales tax rate on the services of Overseas Employment Promoters across the country in the upcoming budget as the business community of this sector in Islamabad was paying the highest sales tax as compared to provinces, which was not justified by any account. He said that the Overseas Emloyment Promoters in Punjab and Sindh were paying 5 percent sales tax on their services, but the business community of this sector in Islamabad was paying 16 percent sales tax on the same services, which was discriminatory. He said that the Overseas Employment Promoters were playing an important role in exporting the Pakistani human resources to various countries and stressed that the government should address their key issues to facilitate them in business development. He requested the Advisor (IT) FTO to take up their tax issue with FBR to remove this anomaly and introduce a uniform tax rate on this sector across the country.
Muhammad Majid Qureshi, Advisor (IT), Federal Tax Ombudsman said that the tax issue of the Overseas Employment Promoters should be sent to FTO in writing and assured that all possible efforts would be made to address their concerns. He said that FTO was working to provide relief to the taxpayers against the maladministration of tax machinery. He stressed that the taxpayers should register their tax related complaint with FTO through online or by sending in written form and FTO would take up them with relevant authorities in FBR for their redress.
Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President, Muhammad Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI and the representatives of Overseas Employment Promoters Association also briefed the Advisor (IT) FTO about various tax issues of their sector and hoped that he would play role to address them.