Stakeholders demand deferment of POS system

Lahore: The stakeholders has called upon the Federal Board of Revenue to defer the implementation of POS system at business premises till all the reservations of business community are addressed.
A delegation of Brandreth Road Traders Association on Tuesday had a meeting with the LCCI senior vice president Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and vice president Haris Ateeq and informed that the business community has no knowledge about the POS system while the FBR staff is harassing those traders to which it does not apply at all. Zeeshan Khalil, Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, Sh. Sajjad Afzal, Ali Afzal and Syed Mukhtar Ali also spoke on the occasion.
LCCI senior vice president Mian Rehman Aziz Chan said that there are many traders who at the time of their Sales Tax Registration stated themselves as retailers whereas they are serving as wholesalers. They must be given a fair chance to revise their business category in their Sales Tax Registration.
He said that most of the traders / importers are registered with the relevant departments but a large number of their customers/buyers are still unregistered. This creates problems for them to file their tax returns and increase their cost of doing business due to higher tax rates.
The LCCI senior vice president said that the unlawful act of coercion and harassment by FBR officials / intelligence department personnel who are present in various markets should immediately be stopped.
He said that the Chief Commissioners of RTOs/LTUs should be directed to hold series of awareness sessions on POS at LCCI for its members enabling them to comply with the law without consulting the practitioners. Lahore Chamber will appreciate it and provide necessary facilitation to such initiatives for creating awareness among its members.
LCCI Vice President Haris Ateeq was of the view that implementation of POS software in the present scenario will discourage the registered tax payers, enhance smuggling and adversely impact the tax revenue due to stagnation of the economic activities. Moreover, cargoes in motion / shipments at the port would bear huge amount of demurrages / penalties causing financial and mental agony to the business people.
“We believe that the POS law/policy should not only be uniform for all traders but also chalked out after due consultation with the stakeholders, particularly, the Lahore Chamber which is the oldest and premier trade body of Pakistan representing more than 30,000 members belonging to trade and industry. Until then, the status quo should be maintained in the larger interest of national trade and economy. Lahore Chamber will share its recommendations on the subject with your good offices in a separate letter in due course of time”, he added.
Mian Rehman Aziz Chan said that the law should be amended so that single retail outlet (one shop) may be excluded from POS integration.
He said that the businesses should be encouraged to enhance economic activities instead of squeezing them during the testing times of Covid-19, high inflation and increasing cost of doing business due to higher fuel prices.
He said that there is no relationship of shop area with the sales revenue / turnover. This conditions should be abolished.
He further stated that the condition of 1200,000 electricity bill per annum was imposed 5-6 years back, now keeping in view the inflation rate during the last 5-6 years, this threshold should be increased to Rs. 1800,000 per annum.