KCCI voices small shopkeepers’ demand to increase exemption threshold of fixed tax

KARACHI, Aug 02 (NNI): In response to the protests by small retailers against the fixed retailers’ tax introduced in Finance Act 2022, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced to reduce the fixed tax rate from Rs. 6000 per month on non-filers to Rs. 3000 on electricity bills and exempted consumers whose electricity bills was up to 150 units.
To voice the concerns of the small retailers, Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala and President KCCI Muhammad Idrees called a meeting of business associations and held talks with Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Chairman FBR on Zoom.
During the session, they expressed concerns over the high rate of taxes being charged through electricity bills. They argued that commercial consumers are already paying multiple taxes in their monthly electricity bills including fuel adjustment surcharge, electricity duty, income tax, general sales tax, extra GST, further GST besides electricity charges, and over and above a new fixed tax has been levied on all commercial consumers which is unsustainable.
In the meeting held at Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry between the Finance team and small traders, the Finance Minister Miftah Ismail promised to waive multiple taxes on electricity bills and also agreed to consider the demands of small traders to increase the threshold.
After taking the leadership of small shopkeepers on board, Chairman Businessmen Group Zubair Motiwala and President KCCI Muhammad Idrees urged the government to accept the genuine demands of small businessmen who are already struggling to make both ends meet and increase the suggested threshold of 150 units of electricity consumption from fixed tax regime and remove other taxes from electricity bills.
General Secretary BMG & Former President KCCI AQ Khalil stressed on removing other taxes and consider all NTN holders as filers under the fixed tax regime.
The government is already charging hefty multiple taxes on electricity bills on commercial units including Electricity Duty, General Sales Tax (GST), Extra GST, Further GST and Income Tax U/S 235.
Upon the demand of KCCI, the Finance Minister promised to remove all the other taxes from the electricity bills once the fixed tax regime is activated to avoid double taxation. Only GST on electricity consumption will be applicable and at the year end, they will be required to submit a document to intimate the tax authorities about the payment of taxes during the year.
In the Finance Act FY22, the government imposed a fixed tax regime for retailers whereby even the unregistered consumers with zero or minimal units were getting Rs. 6000 monthly tax on electricity bills.