IMF team meets Punjab Revenue Authority officials

LAHORE: A three-member delegation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday arrived at the Punjab Revenue Authority’s (PRA) head office and met the chairman of PRA, ARY News reported.

The PRA team briefed the IMF delegation and informed them online monitoring of at least 600 restaurants was being conducted.

Chairman PRA told the foreign delegation that Punjab was collecting Rs 110 billion under the head of sales tax annually. During the current fiscal year, 14,725 people were served notices.

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He said Rs 61 billion in taxes were collected during last seven months.

Last year, representatives of the International Monetary Fund had suggested to the Punjab Revenue Authority to also bring retailers, shopkeepers etc into the tax net to increase the revenue collection.

“IMF representatives Tokhir N. Mirzoev and Teresa Daban Sanchez held a meeting with the PRA’s senior officials and gave suggestions in connection with expanding the tax net. During the meeting, they suggested to also bring the retailers, shopkeepers and other businesses in the tax net to increase the tax to the GDP ratio of Punjab province.”

The IMF representatives, according to the official, appreciated the PRA’s Restaurant Invoice Management System (RIMS) and other initiatives that led to increase in the tax on services from Rs24bn to 83bn.