Pakistan's super tax on industry is set to be phased out completely. Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial told industrialists during a visit to the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) in Karachi that the rate had initially been cut by two percentage points and that work had now begun on gradually abolishing it.
Langrial announced that an FBR office would be set up at KATI to deal with tax issues faced by industrialists in the Korangi Industrial Area, and that the FBR help desk would be expanded from Karachi to Sukkur. He said the board would consult stakeholders to fix shortcomings in the import of raw materials.
Meetings will also be held to resolve border trade problems faced by the leather industry, he said. To make the track-and-trace system work, the FBR will team up with the pharmaceutical industry to roll out a model similar to that of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
The FBR's aim, Langrial said, was to improve the tax system and make life easier for businesses. He urged industrialists and traders to help identify those involved in tax evasion so the system could become more transparent and effective. Business groups have long blamed the super tax for pushing up industrial costs, so attention will now turn to the timeline for its removal.