Imposition of reformed GST from Oct 1 unlikely

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Official says approval from NA, provincial assemblies will require govt to delay introduction of tax

* IMF will allow seeking of parliament’s approval during extended period

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is likely to delay for another month the introduction of reformed General Sales Tax (GST) on goods and services from October 1 to November 1, official sources said on Wednesday.

This has been done keeping in view the necessity of parliamentary approval of the tax from the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies for gaining political support, the sources added.

The federal finance minister has already indicated submitting a fresh bill on reformed GST to the National Assembly for formal approval. Draft of the legislation of the tax on goods would be submitted to the NA while approval would also be sought from the Senate and NA standing committees on finance.

A senior official of the Finance Ministry informed Daily Times that parliamentary approval of the tax from the National Assembly and provincial assembles would require them to delay its introduction.

Formal approval: Responding to a question on a possible delay in the next tranche of $1.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to delay in the introduction of reformed GST, the official said the government would convince the IMF authorities and it was expected that it would allow seeking formal approval of parliament during the extended period.

The Record Notes that had been signed by the federal government and the provinces at the end of the two-day meeting on reformed GST held from September 27 to 28 had fixed October 22 as the deadline for finalisation of draft legislation on the tax for submission in the NA and provincial assemblies for a formal approval.

The drafts would be finalised after receipt of the report of the standing committee constituted by the Finance Ministry for this purpose, which has been tasked with submitting its report by October 15, the official sources said.

It is worth mentioning that due to a dispute between the Sindh and federal governments on the right of reformed GST collection on services, the Centre had delayed the introduction of the proposed Value Added Tax (VAT) from July 1 to October 1 with revision in its name from VAT to reformed GST. The sources said that formal approval of the IMF would be sought for a further one-month delay in the introduction of the tax system.