FBR
Sales Tax Chief Hamid Memon announced in a news briefing on Thursday that in the next couple of days, the FBR will start paying
sales tax refunds in the range of Rs15 billion to Rs20bn a month to the five export-oriented sectors through the FASTER system.
The circular clarifies that a business which is not registered for
sales tax and does not have an STRN is not authorized to charge
sales tax on the invoice.
'It is, therefore, clarified that
sales tax registration number (STRN) (thirteen digits) is issued to every person who is registered for
sales tax purpose and only that person is authorized to change
sales tax on his taxable sales except where goods fall under third schedule to the
Sales Tax Act-1990,' reads the circular issued by FBR.
The FBR, in a circular, stated that the general public had lodged complaints against businessmen, who were charging
sales tax from consumers without being registered with the board under the
Sales Tax Act-1990.
The FBR clarification has further advised the Customers to ask for invoices/receipts having
Sales Tax Number (STRN) on the invoices/receipts on purchase of goods and services,said in press release issued by FBR here on Thursday.
It is further clarified that a buyer is not required to provide his NIC in case of purchases from a person not registered for
sales tax. It is also clarified that in case of purchase of third schedule items, which are subject to
sales tax on the basis of retail price and on which retail price along with
sales tax is legibly and indelibly printed or embossed, the
sales tax on the same is deposited by the manufacturer or importer.
IBC strongly condemns the imposition of 16%
sales tax on the services of lawyers in the Islamabad Capital Territory, the bar said in a statement on Monday.
Since 2011, there was no
sales tax applicable on these services.
The current
sales tax collection is in the range of Rs1.7 trillion and the government is looking for avenues to generate additional over Rs350 billion from
sales tax alone in fiscal year 2019-20.
Many businesses are only now coming to grips with a significant
sales tax law change that happened last summer.
Supreme Court ruled that states can't collect
sales tax from a business unless the business has a physical presence in their state.
February
sales tax collections were 0.6 percent, or $127,000, less than projected.