In the next Federal Budget 2024–2025, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has recommended raising the charge on invoices at the Point of Sale (POS) systems from the existing Rs. 1.
FBR sources told local media that a special audit is suggested for merchants that haven’t registered on the POS system yet in order to guarantee compliance.
Two important recommendations include giving the Directorate General of Digital Invoices more authority and extending the Track and Trace system’s reach by including the tiling industry. According to reports, the tax machinery wants the upcoming budget to fully document important commercial supply lines.
In addition to streamlining the tax filing procedure, reports stated that a single sales tax return for enterprises is being explored for the next fiscal year. In order to improve market monitoring and compliance, the recommendations also include efforts to monitor suppliers of unregistered dealers in the sales tax system.
FBR mandated in December 2023 that integrated suppliers register each point of sale (POS) and declare every outlet via the computerized system in order to initiate the integration.
This plan was opposed by several chambers and industry players. The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) requested the regulator to reexamine its latest verdict, one month after FBR initially issued its order.
FBR hasn’t done anything to improve situational management since then. Given that the aforementioned recommendations are probably going to be included in next week’s budget announcement, the retail industry is likely in for another challenging fiscal year.
