Tax on retailers to be collected from July 1st 2024: Aurangzeb M Haris

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday said that tax on retailers would be collected from July 1st 2024, to broaden the tax base and improve the tax-to-GDP ratio.

Speaking at the post-budget press conference, he explained that the aim of bringing retailers into the tax net was to share the burden of tax more equitably.

He said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched a mandatory tax registration scheme for retailers and wholesalers in six major cities, effective from April 1, 2024, under its “Tajir Dost” scheme.

However, the finance minister said that the scheme could not work as 75 retailers voluntarily registered with it during April 2024.

Later, in May 2024, the minister added, the FBR workforce mobilised itself which resulted in the registration of around 31,000 retailers with the scheme to date.

He said that the government has no option but to broaden the tax base to run the national economy and bringing the retailers into the net was a step towards this direction.