Senior Vice President of the Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Faad Waheed has demanded that the Corporate Tax Office (CTO) should set up a separate facilitation desk at the ICCI headquarters to address their tax problems. He made the demand while meeting with Chief Commissioner of CTO Dr Nasir Khan, who was visiting the chambers in Islamabad.

Faad Waheed said that the business community is the backbone of any economy and that proper facilitation should be forwarded to it for its efficient development. He said that being the wealth creators of the country we demand that we be treated with respect and dignity by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other tax departments of the country.

He demanded that the FBR should reform its system and increase the tax base through horizontal expansion instead of vertical expansion, which is putting more and more pressure on the business community in an already fragile economic environment. He specifically demanded the revision of the Section-7E of the Income Tax Code, and said that tax on rental income is 35% which is very high and must be brought down.

Faad Waheed called for close cooperation between the ICCI and the CTO for the facilitation of the business community. Chief Commissioner, Corporate Tax Office, Dr Nasir Khan, accepted the demand of ICCI Senior Vice President of setting up a special facilitation desk of CTO at ICCI headquarters and said that the business community will be facilitated in every manner by his office.

He proposed the setting up of a hotline between CTO and ICCI for quick redressal of grievances related to tax matters of the business community. He said that work is underway to simplify the tax regime and make it more amenable to the business community, adding that he will meet separately with the pharmaceutical sector to hear their grievances related to tax matters.

He continued, “I will try to arrange a meeting between business leaders and Chairman of the FBR for more detailed conversation on tax issues. Our main objective is to facilitate the business community and we will definitely increase the tax base to reduce the burden from ICCI members.” Sections 4C, 117 and 7E of the tax code also came under discussion and various proposals for their revision were deliberated during the meeting.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk