FBR indicates relaxing CNIC condition for all buyers

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman Shabbar Zaidi on Friday announced that the authorities will further relax the condition of CNIC number under the sales tax act which declared the misreporting of the national identity number and national tax number (NTN) as a punishable offence, ARY News reported.

Shabbar Zaidi, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, said that the implementation of the CNIC condition is affecting business activities. He added that the possibilities of tax retrieval will be lessened if the businesses and trade activities remained affected in the country.

“There are two options to continue implementation of the CNIC condition if we ended it or to find some other solution [to end this disturbance],” said Zaidi.

Earlier on July 23, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had made it mandatory for all buyers to show their Computer National Identity Card (CNIC) while making purchases over Rs50,000 from a sales tax registered person.

Read: CNIC mandatory for purchases over Rs50,000: FBR

The FBR explained the new condition in a sales tax notification on Monday which stipulates the amendments being made to the Sales Tax Act, 1990.

According to a new rule by the Federal Board of Revenue, female customers are given leverage if they do not want to share their own identity card number or do not have an independent source of income. Such female buyers can share the identity card of their male relatives when the total bill crosses Rs50,000.

Later on October 4, the federal government had decided to relax the condition for which the manufacturers and suppliers had been complaining about not having a mechanism for detecting fake and third party’s CNIC.