Traders end strike after reaching agreement with govt

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh announced on Wednesday that the federal government and business community have reached an agreement.

The business community called off the countrywide shutter-down strike after reaching an eleven-point agreement with the government.

The strike was held against the imposition of taxes, and presenting a CNIC copy for buying and selling goods up to Rs50,000.

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi and PTI senior leader Jahangir Tareen announced the agreement after holding dialogue with the protesting traders.

According to the agreement, the computerised national identity card (CNIC) condition for Rs50,000 purchase will remain intact but any action against its violation has been suspended till January 31, 2020.

The two sides agreed that traders with an annual turnover of Rs100 million would have to pay Rs0.5 per cent of the turnover instead of 1.5pc of the turnover and that the same traders would not become withholding agents.

The limit of electricity bill for registration in sales tax register was increased to Rs1.2 million from Rs600,000.

The government also agreed to review the rate of turnover tax for sectors with low profit ratio to be carried out in consultations with a committee of traders. The withholding tax on renewal of brokers’ license will also be reviewed.

The adviser also announced that the government will establish an exclusive cell at FBR office in Islamabad to resolve the issues of traders on immediate basis. The head of the cell will be a grade 21 or 22 officer who will meet traders on monthly basis.

The two sides also agreed that the government would introduce simple forms in Urdu language for registration of new traders and income tax returns filing The traders bodies will offer full cooperation in the registration of new businesses.

Under the agreement, the government will consult with the traders committee for decision to grant exemption in sales tax to a 1,000 square feet shop.

Hafeez Shaikh highlighted that there are only around 393,000 taxpayers out of more than four million traders. He added the government is willing to gain the confidence of the business community to increase tax net.

The traders continued continue the shutter-down strike on Wednesday as deadlock persisted despite holding talks with the federal government.

Earlier on July 23, the FBR had made it mandatory for all buyers to show their CNIC while making purchases over Rs50,000 from a sales tax registered person.