Centre, provinces to deliberate on reformed GST

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Technical Standing Committee finalises proposals, counter proposals to set status of services

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: The Finance Ministry has convened a high-level meeting of the provinces on Friday to take political level decisions on handing over seven key services either to provinces or the Federal Board of Revenue to finalise draft legislation on the reformed GST on services.

Sindh and Punjab failed to settle their differences on sharing revenues from services on the basis of revenue collection or consumption (population), and now the issue, along with that of the origin of services, would be decided at a finance ministers’ meeting.

The Technical Standing Committee, headed by Finance Secretary Salman Siddique, on Tuesday finalised sets of proposals and counter proposals to determine the status of services such as stock brokers, commission agents, courier services, Customs agent, shipping agents, stevedores and freight forwarding agents for a possible decision at the finance ministers’ meeting scheduled for Friday.

The committee, however, decided to hand over four disputed services such as accountants and auditors, credit rating agencies, underwriters and indenters to the provinces, identifying them as standalone services.

Status: After the meeting held at the FBR house, the finance secretary informed Daily Times that the Technical Standing Committee had finalised proposals and counter proposals for a possible resolution of the status of the services, and these proposals would be put before the meeting of federal and provincial finance ministers.

He said that the Technical Standing Committee’s draft of the RGST legislation on services would be finalised considering the decision taken at the finance ministers’ meeting, and the proposals finalised in Tuesday’s meeting would help them reach a consensus, which would be translated into an agreement.

Political consensus: Once the political level consensus is reached between federal and provincial governments, the draft RGST would be ready for initial approval and formal submission in the provincial assemblies by the first week of November, the finance secretary added.

He said after the introduction of RGST on services, several issues would emerge and would require hectic consultations between the federal and provincial governments, considering which the meeting had decided to give the Technical Standing Committee the status of a permanent committee.

Later, a provincial finance secretary informed Daily Times that the committee meeting deliberated on the issues regarding services pending for decision, and finalised some proposals with consensus to complete the consultation process at the technical level between the federal and provincial governments.

He said telecommunication services were the major revenue generator and a decision had already been taken on sharing proceeds from this sector. Telecom companies would transfer the proceeds of RGST on telecom services to the respective province over usage of these services, he added.

The secretary said disputed services such as stock brokers, commission agents, courier services, Customs agent, shipping agents, stevedores and freight forwarding agents had no major impact on revenue, hoping the issue is settled soon.

He added that the issue of origin of services and sharing of RGST proceeds of these services over collection or population would be decided in the finance ministers’ meeting.