KARACHI: Haroon Akhtar Khan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) for Industries & Production, has assured a high-profile FPCCI delegation that the government will review the Tax Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, in the light of apex body’s recommendations to help resolve the profound grievances of the entire business, industry and trade community of Pakistan.
This was informed by Atif Ikram Sheikh, President FPCCI, President ECO-CCI and VP CACCI, after the meeting with SAPM on Friday.
Sheikh led a senior delegation of the business community to meet Haroon Akhtar on several issues including Tax Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, highhandedness of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), tax & tariff barriers in doing business in the country and the issues of Dangerous Petroleum Liquids. “The meeting with SAPM and assurance is a resounding success of the rigorous policy advocacy endeavours on this critical issue of national significance,” he said.
FPCCI demands reviewing Income Tax Amendment Ordinance
During the meeting, Haroon Akhtar reiterated his commitment to playing a proactive role in resolving the problems faced by the business community. Additionally, he informed that Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has given clear instructions to formulate problem-solving committees and advised to take business community on board in the policymaking consultations.
FPCCI President maintained that all chambers, trade bodies and associations have grave reservations and apprehensions on Income Tax (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, as they believe that it will give rise to avenues of harassment, corruption and maladministration.
He explained that it is an established fact and practice globally that the more a tax collector is allowed to intervene or interact with the taxpayer, the more it is likely to undermine the principles of fairness, transparency and impartiality due to the increased role of human-to-human interaction, and human judgement becomes a nuisance. “Therefore, we do not need to reinvent the wheel in this matter”, he added.
Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, SVP FPCCI, apprised that during the meeting with SAPM, he decided to extend the six-month exemption granted till May 25, 2025 by another 6 months vis-à-vis ‘Dangerous Petroleum Liquids’ on FPCCI’s demand. “We need to define DPL well and resolve the transportation, availability, storage and regulatory issues vis-à-vis important raw materials for the industry and manufacturing in the form of chemicals,” he added.
Hamid Arshad Zahur, Chairman of Pakistan Tanners’ Association and Haroon Ali Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Chemical Manufacturers Association (PCMA), were also part of the FPCCI delegation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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