FBR Launches Comprehensive Campaign to Bring 3.5 Million Small Traders into Tax Net Under Simplified Fixed Tax Scheme
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has officially launched a nationwide campaign to place around 3.5 million small traders and shopkeepers under the formal tax net through a simple and hassle-free compliance mechanism.
In the outreach, FBR has launched an easy to use single page registration form in Urdu and other regional languages. The scheme is new and under it, a fixed tax rate of one percent of the declared turnover (with minimum tax of Rs25,000 per year) would be levied on the shopkeepers and business owners whose annual turnover does not exceed Rs200 million (200 million rupees).
To promote voluntary compliance and ease the administrative hassles, the FBR has incorporated several big incentives in the policy framework: Complete Exemption for Eligible Shopkeepers and Small Retailers: Fully exempt from mandatory integration of POS and complex digital invoicing requirements.Audit Immunity: Traders who enroll into the scheme enjoy full protection from regular income tax audits.
Routine business purchases: Routine business purchases of registered participants are also exempt from normal withholding agent duties.FBR guidelines suggest that the registration procedure can be completed by the shopkeepers with ease either via the FBR official website online or through a dedicated mobile tax application or by visiting their local regional tax offices. Compliant and registered businesses will receive a special green plate with an encrypted QR code for them to prominently display at their stores.
Both the tax officials and the field inspectors are prohibited from conducting arbitrary inspections and entering premises with the displayed registered green plates.