Nathia Gali:
To increase voluntary tax compliance and enhance the capacity of withholding agents, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority held a workshop on Sales Tax Withholding Regulations 2020 in Nathia Gali.
The workshop was arranged with the support of USAID-funded KPRM Activity at Elites Hotel Nathia Gali on Wednesday. The participants were including the officials of Universities, Developing Authorities, and Education Boards in North Region.
Additional Collector KPRA North Region Umar Arshad Khan in his welcome address thanked USAID-KPRM for supporting KPRA in capacity building of the withholding agents. Khan shed light on the role of the withholding agents in assisting KPRA to meet its annual revenue collection targets.
“KPRA has collected Rs30.3 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22 and your role in the collection is very crucial for us. We achieved our target with your support and we expect you to continue the support,” he said adding that the aims of the workshop were to build the capacity of the withholding agents and address their questions along with establishing a liaison with them. Khan assured them complete support in overcoming their issues. He said that they are going to start awareness sessions in universities for students to build tax culture in the province in the coming weeks.
Deputy Collector KPRA North Raheel Iqbal gave a detailed presentation on sales tax withholding regulations 2020 to the participants and clarified each and every section of the regulation, making clear the procedure of how to calculate and withhold sales tax on services from the service provider and then submit their monthly returns. Mr. Iqbal said that the KPRA can ask for records of the withholding agents for up to 5 years so they have to maintain their records for 5 years.
KPRA official from PRAL Jawad Rauf Kiyani gave a live demo to the participants on how to calculate their sales tax on services and submit their monthly withholding statement on KPRA portal. USAID KPRM Public Outreach Specialist Naveed Yousafzai said that they will continue their support and will hold capacity-building workshops in Bannu, Chitral, and Bajaur for public sector withholding agents in the coming weeks. “We will continue to support KPRA to build tax culture in the province,” Mr. Yousafzai said.
The participants appreciated the efforts of KPRA and USAID-KPRM for holding the workshop saying that such workshops should be held from time to time so that they can present their queries before the KPRA officials. They said they will continue to assist KPRA in tax collection and will play their part in the uplift of the country.