LAHORE MIRROR — The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) is all set to launch the New Punjab Sales Tax on Services Return considering it a giant leap towards an integrated automated solution to its tax business processes and paperless environment
The Punjab Revenue Authority, established in 2012, is one of the relatively new but premier tax-collecting department contributing over 66% of the entire Own Source Revenue (OSR) of Punjab. During the Financial Year 2023-24, it collected over PKR 240 bn for the Province comprising Punjab Sales Tax on Services (PSTS) (PKR 224.4 bn), Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess (PKR 5.4 bn) and Punjab Workers’ Welfare Fund (PKR 10.2 bn).
The organization which started off with a meagre collection of PKR 33.9 bn during FY 2012-13 has achieved PSTS growth at 561% and PRA despite being a lean organisation attributes its success to its persistent and effective use of Information technology while realising that use of Information technology is part and parcel of an effective revenue collecting agency.
PRA, after implementing Single Sales Tax Return (SSTR) for businesses operating at cross provincial level is all set to launch its new sales tax module for the businesses providing services only within the territory of Punjab under the directions of Finance Minister Punjab, Mujataba Shuja ur Rehman. The said return will be launched in August 2024 and taxpayers will file their sales tax returns for tax period July 2024 onwards through the new system.
PRA declares the launching of its new return a giant leap in achieving the goal of having end to end automated tax solution. The new return envisages all calculations, checks, validations and verifications under the provisions of Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act, 2012 thus mitigating any chances of loss of revenue. The system is web based and e-interactive and will be able to achieve paperless environment. The system will also cater to the needs of tax officers to issue e-notices on account of non-filing, approvals on account of extension and revision of sales tax returns.
The taxpayers, besides e-filing of their tax returns, will also be able to file online applications for extension, return revision along with scanned copies of relevant documents which will save the taxpayers from visiting PRA offices. Prior to implementation of Return module, thorough User Acceptance Testing (UAT) by PRA Domain Team as well as by stakeholders has been undertaken and PRA plans to conduct provincewide workshops for training and education of taxpayers and other stakeholders.
User guides will also be available at PRA website for the facilitation of taxpayers. After the implementation of return module, PRA is on its way to develop Assessment module through which the officers will be able to make correct assessments of value of services and sales tax thereon through audit or otherwise after sending online notices.
Since PRA’s establishment in 2012, while realising the importance of IT, PRA adopted online filing of registration application, e-filing of its Sales Tax Return and tax payment through Computerised Payment Receipt/ Challan (CPR). PRA was the first organisation in Pakistan which adopted the Restaurant Invoice Monitoring System (RIMS) later developed to electronic-Invoice Management System (e-IMS) extended to other services in addition to restaurants. In January 2018, it also adopted Sales Tax Real Time Invoice Verification (STRIVE) System of e-filing which minimised the chances of tax frauds besides facilitating taxpayers to claim cross input tax adjustment before FBR and vice versa.
During the Financial Year 2023-24, PRA remained very active in upgrading and adopting new IT initiatives under the directions of Finance Minister, Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman, supervision of Chairperson PRA, Dr Javed Iqbal Sheikh and Member (Support Services), Attiya Ali Khan. PRA was shifted to 100% ADC (online) payment for ease of the taxpayers as well as for streamlining the collection reporting. More checks were introduced in the PRA legacy e-filing system like verification of sales tax withholding payment prior to input tax adjustment before FBR, elimination of duplicate claims etc.
During FY 2023-24, PRA took the first step towards an integrated web based and e-interactive automated system through implementation of registration module after due Business Processes Reengineering (BPR) BPR covering all processes of registration including voluntary registration, compulsory registration, change in registration profile, suspension and restoration of registration.
After the implementation of the said system, the taxpayers do not require to visit tax office on account of registration. The registration with PRA is completed instantly once the online registration application is submitted after necessary verifications and the taxpayer is intimated about the login details and password through email and text message.
The taxpayer can also generate his PRA registration certificate through system. The e-notices issued by the relevant tax officers are communicated to the relevant taxpayer who can respond to these online notices. The relevant supervisory tax officers can also view and monitor the performance of their subordinates through the system which in turn will increase the efficiency of the organisation.
Another major IT initiative during the year 2023-24 was the development and implementation of Single Sales Tax Return (SSTR). PRA was the first provincial revenue authority who opted to be the part of Single Sales Tax Return (SSTR) and remained very active in development and its implementation in collaboration with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other three Provincial Revenue Authorities namely Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), KP Revenue Authority (KPRA) and Balochistan Revenue Authority (BRA).
SSTR is also a giant leap in ease of doing business for the taxpayers operating businesses on cross provincial levels – instead of filing five separate tax returns, the taxpayer files a single sales tax return which in turn reduces his compliance cost. SSTR has been implemented on telecommunication sector as a Pilot project since January 2024 which will be extended to other sectors upon the completion of Pilot Project.
Besides ease of doing business, SSTR will resolve issues like cross input tax adjustment across jurisdictions as well as sharing of return data across revenue authorities. It is pertinent to mention that SSTR, been developed on the same platform is also the part of the integrated solution adopted by PRA.
PRA also focused upon the integration of intra-provincial databases and exchange of data with other provincial organisations under the umbrella of Finance Department, Punjab. Todate, PRA has integrated its database with PESSI, Punjab Food Authority (PFA), Excise Taxation & Narcotics Control Motor Vehicle data, Agriculture Department’s Mandi App, Private Education Providers Registration Information System in order to broaden its tax base through identification of new taxpayers.
PRA also approached Police Department for its “Hotel Eye” data and a formal agreement is underway which will also help PRA in broadening of tax base as well as cross verification of the sales declared by hotel sector. PRA intends to extend the exchange of data through integration of data bases with tourism department, transport department etc.
In order to streamline the administrative working of the organisation, PRA is in process of procuring and implementing softwares like e-Foas, Human Resource Information Management System (HRMS) from Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) which will help in increasing the transparency and efficiency of the organisation and reducing the processing time caused due to manual processes.
PRA spokesperson stated that PRA employs IT for the facilitation of taxpayers for ease of doing business, minimizing taxpayer-tax collector interaction, minimising cost of compliance, reducing wastage of time and resources and increasing transparency and efficiency in the organisation. PRA while following its IT strategy will be able to achieve the ultimate goal of paperless environment under the directions and leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz and Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman.
