FBR urged to issue FTNs to persons not liable for withholding tax: KTBA

KARACHI: The Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to issue Fee Tax Numbers (FTNs) to persons who are not liable for withholding tax.
In its proposals for the upcoming budget for the financial year 2021-22, the Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) said that Section 49(3) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 has specified that any payment received by the federal government, a provincial government or a local government shall not be liable to any collection or deduction of advance tax.
It said there is no clarification or list of FTN entities to whom this subsection applies, adding the absence of any SRO or underlying rules causes unease to the withholding agents to determine proper withholding tax treatment in such cases. It proposed that FBR should issue a separate list of Fee Tax Numbers (FTNs), who are not liable to tax withholding as provided under section 49(3) of the ordinance through an SRO.
The tax practitioners said that this will assist the withholding agents and save considerable time in deciding whether a respective FTN holder is required to produce exemption certificates or not. – TLTP