Karachi: Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, the President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), has made a formal appeal to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to revise the requirement for submitting affidavits with sales tax returns, citing potential complications and unfair penalties for businesses due to vendors’ errors or misconduct.

According to Zameen.Com, Bilwani highlighted the practical challenges posed by the new affidavit requirement, which mandates taxpayers to assert the accuracy of their submissions, exposing them to penalties for discrepancies caused by their vendors. This change introduces a risk of businesses being unfairly held accountable for tax evasion by their vendors, despite adherence to FBR’s guidelines to verify vendors’ tax status online.

The KCCI president also addressed concerns regarding the FBR’s current transformation plan, which includes an increase in audits. This approach appears to contradict earlier assurances made by the Finance Minister, who promoted the adoption of IT and AI technologies to minimize human intervention and automate the audit process. While recognizing the potential benefits of some aspects of FBR’s plan, Bilwani urges immediate consultations with the business community and stakeholders to address these discrepancies and refine the strategy to ensure it is effective and fair for all parties involved.