By: Faisal Shahzad
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has issued directives to action against tax defaulters and evaders on an emergency basis, a statement said on Monday.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Shehbaz Sharif also took notice of delays in the implementation of Trace and Track System (TTS) in sugar, tobacco, cement and fertilizer industries. The statement said that the Prime Minister took the notice during a meeting about implementation of track and trace system in Islamabad.
Shehbaz Sharif ordered to the authorities concerned to set up a committee to identify the issues in the implementation of Trace and Track System (TTS) and those involved in tax evasion within seven days.
The committee will submit its report in seven days, has also been assigned with presenting a suggestion for enforcing automatic tax systems in large industries and factories. Shehbaz Sharif also issued directives to seek assistance from international institutions to executive the TTS.
The PM asked the officials regarding the reasons for the delay and said the Trace and Track System should have been made functional in key industries in the past two years. Shehbaz Sharif said all legal hurdles in the implementation of the track and trace system must be removed.
He ordered that TTS should be implemented at all production lines of all factories, and the action should be immediately taken against those factories which do not follow the law. He said that TTS could be used to curb fake and substandard products besides increasing revenue in the country. Shehbaz Sharif ordered actions against unregistered and fake cigarettes in the country.
The meeting was told that the TTS was completely functional in fourteen tobacco factories, whereas a dozen had been sealed for non-compliance, the statement said.
The system was completely functional in entire fertilizer industries. However, there were some technical problems in implementing the TTS in cement and sugar factories, which were being resolved.
Shehbaz Sharif also sought a comprehensive digital strategy to automate the entire system and ordered the officials concerned to curb smuggling and that law enforcement agencies should also assist FBR in this connection.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers Muhammad Aurangzeb and Ahad Cheema, FBR Chairman Malik Amjad Zubair Tiwana, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jehanzaib Khan, and other senior officials.
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