Traders reject abrupt implementation of digital invoicing system
Business community raised voices against the government and FBR for its unilateral policy and initiatives, especially the aforementioned new system through three different resolutions that were adopted unanimously during an awareness session on Digital Invoicing organised by Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with Federal Board of Revenue /PRAL (Pakistan Revenue Automation Private Limited) here in the chamber.
The session was chaired by SCCI president Fazal Moqeem Khan. Senior vice president of the chamber Abdul Jalil Jan, member of the SCCI executive committee Adnan Nasir, Aftab Iqbal, Ashfaq Ahmad, Muhammad Nadeem Rauf, Sajjad Zaheer, former senior vice president Imran Khan Mohmand, carpet exporters Mazhar ul Haq, Atif Rasheed Khawaja, Afshan Khan, Sadder, Fazal e Wahid, Secretary General SCCI Muqtasid Ahsan, representatives, managers of various industries, business and importers and exporters were in attendance in a large number.
The resolutions strongly denounced the imposition of Rs2Million to Rs3 Million penalties and declaring the business community defaulters over violation of not digitizing in digital invoicing system and imposing heavy penalties under the Section 25-A, and called it an attempt to discourage the business and industries and demanded immediate abolishment of the afore-stated section forthwith.
Another resolution against S.R.O.709(I)/2025, stating that businesses and industries are unprepared technically and physically to adopt this new system abruptly, therefore, it is strongly called to give an extension into implementation of the new system for an indefinite period.
In the third resolution, the business community suggested phase-wise and sector wise implementation of the new digital invoicing system, right from large-scale manufacturing industries to small businesses and traders.
Traders and manufactures opposed the section 25-A that has made mandatory to electronically integrate their hardware and software with FBR's computerized system through a license integrator or PRAL and to issue invoices, which unable for them to adopt abruptly while keeping in inadequate digital infrastructure, particularly in underdeveloped and remote industrial zones, insufficient technical readiness among enterprises, especially SMEs, limited digital literacy and capacity, both at user and support levels. They viewed that FBR is not itself fully digitized. Business community furthermore pointed out that frequent downtime of FBR's IRIS services couldn't enable them to generate invoices in wake of inaccessibility of the system.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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