LAHORE - FBR Inland Revenue member Dr Irshad has said that Federal Board of Revenue, tax bars and traders associations have decided to initiate the joint effort for making the Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme successful by convincing traders to come into tax net.
Dr Irshad was addressing a press conference here at Lahore Press Club on Friday along with Chief Commissioner RTO I Tasnim Rehman, chief commissioner RTO II Khawaja Adnan, All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran general secretary Naeem Mir, Pakistan Tax Bar Association president Mohsin Nadim, Lahore Tax Bar Association president Mansha Sukhera, LTBA general secretary Qamar Zaman, LCCI Vice President Nasir Saeed, Mehboob Sirki and Ashraf Bhatti.
Dr Irshad said the regional chief commissioners will hold joint sessions on VTCS with local trade bodies and tax bars associations on February 13 in Multan, on February 15 in Sialkot, on February 16 in Rawalpindi, on February 17 in Karachi, on February 18 in Lahore and Gujranwala on February 20 in Faisalabad, on February 23 in Sukkar and on February 25 in Islamabad.
He said that the announcement of holding joint sessions in Balochistan and KPK will be announced later due to murder of APAT KP President Halim Jan. The traders who will join VTCS will be exempted from sales tax. The VTCS beneficiaries will also be exempted from wealth statement. They have to pay just 0.1-0.2 percent turnover tax and they will be included in active taxpayers list in 24 hours. Resultantly, WHT on their banking transaction will be removed automatically, Dr. Irshad added.
Addressing the press conference, APAT central general secretary Naeem Mir said that the scheme would have a positive impact because it would encourage documentation of the informal economy by allowing non-filing traders to regularise their undeclared working capital up to Rs 50 million by paying a nominal tax because govt slashed income tax by 80-90 percent.
Naeem Mir said that Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme is the simplest and easiest scheme in the history of country to facilitate traders and if they get no benefit from this their coming generation will be the losers. He urged trader to include in Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme and play their role of dutifiul citizen.
To a question, Mir said that APAT will defend the VTCS in court because it has been challenged in Lahore High Court. Addressing the press conference, Pakistan Tax Bar Association president Mohsin Nadim, announced the full support to the FBR officials to make the scheme successful.

He said that yesterday’s session of Tax bars with state minister Haroon Akhtar Khan and traders was attended by the lawyers of the whole province. The tax lawyers shown their concerns on Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme and the FBR officials replied them satisfactorily.