The government is expected to introduce fresh regulations in the next finance bill to rein in sales tax evasion by outsourcing the task of verifying the authenticity of filed returns to chartered accountants.
This is one of the main proposals sent by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to the finance ministry for inclusion in next month’s budget.
Under the new rules, returns filed by commercial entities will have to be verified by a chartered accountant, so that any irregularities are weeded out.
The government hopes this will curtail sales tax evasion which costs the exchequer an estimated Rs500 billion every year.