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LAHORE, Jul 25 (APP):The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) is all set to launch new Punjab Sales Tax (PST) on Services Return, considering it a giant leap towards an integrated automated solution to its tax business processes and paperless environment
According to the details, During the FY 2023-24, the PRA collected over Rs240bn for the province comprising Punjab Sales Tax on Services (PSTS) (Rs224.4 bn), Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess (Rs5.4 bn) and Punjab Workers’ Welfare Fund (Rs10.2 bn). The organisation which started of with the meagre collection of Rs33.9 bn during FY 2012-13 had achieved PSTS growth at 561 per cent and PRA despite being a lean organisation attributes its success to its persistent and effective use of Information technology.
The spokesperson for the department said the PRA, after implementing Single Sales Tax Return (SSTR) for businesses operating at cross provincial level was all set to launch its new sales tax module for the businesses providing services only within the territory of Punjab under the directions of Finance Minister Punjab, Mujataba Shuja ur Rehman. The said return would be launched in August 2024 and taxpayers would file their sales tax returns for tax period July 2024 onwards through the new system. The PRA declares the launching of its new return a giant leap in achieving the goal of having end to end automated tax solution added the new return envisages all calculations, checks, validations and verifications under the provisions of Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act, 2012 thus mitigating any chances of loss of revenue.
The system was web based and e-interactive and would be able to achieve paperless environment, the spokesperson said and added that that the system would also cater to the needs of the officers to issue e-notices on account of non-filing, approvals on account of extension and revision of sales tax returns. The taxpayers, besides e-filing of their tax returns, would also be able to file online applications for extension, return revision along with scanned copies of relevant documents which would save the taxpayers from visiting PRA offices. Prior to implementation of Return module, through User Acceptance Testing (UAT) by PRA domain team as well as by stakeholders had been undertaken and PRA plans to conduct province wide workshops for training and education of taxpayers and other stakeholders. After the implementation of return module, PRA was on its way to develop assessment module through which the officers would be able to make correct assessments of value of services and sales tax there on through audit or otherwise after sending online notices.
The PRA was the first organisation in Pakistan which adopted the Restaurant Invoice Monitoring System (RIMS) later developed to electronic-Invoice Management System (e-IMS) extended to other services in addition to restaurants.
During the Financial Year 2023-24, the PRA remained very active in upgrading and adopting new IT initiatives under the directions of Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman, supervision of Chairperson PRA, Dr Javed Iqbal Sheikh and Member (Support Services), Attiya Ali Khan. The authority was shifted to 100 per cent ADC (online) payment for ease of the taxpayers as well as for streamlining the collection reporting. The taxpayer can also generate his PRA registration certificate through system. The PRA was the first provincial revenue authority who opted to be the part of Single Sales Tax Return (SSTR) and remained very active in development and its implementation in collaboration with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other three provincial revenue authorities. The PRA had integrated its database with PESSI, Punjab Food Authority (PFA), Excise Taxation & Narcotics Control Motor Vehicle data, Agriculture Department’s Mandi App, Private Education Providers Registration Information System in order to broaden its tax base through identification of new taxpayers.
The spokesperson said, in order to streamline the administrative working of the organisation, PRA was in process of procuring and implementing softwares like e-Foas, Human Resource Information Management System (HRMS) from Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) which would help in increasing the transparency and efficiency of the organisation and reducing the processing time caused due to manual processes, the spokesperson added.