Centre, provinces reach agreement on GST

ISLAMABAD: After nine months of talks, the federal government and all the provinces in a meeting on Monday reached a consensus on imposing the reformed General Sales Tax (GST) on services from October 1 through provincial legislation, Geo News reported.

The provinces are expected to complete their legislation process on or before September 30 to implement and enforce the reformed tax system on services from October 1.

Similarly, it has also been agreed that the reformed tax on goods would also be implemented from October 1 through legislation in parliament, while the deadline for legislation and determining the tax rate would be determined today (Tuesday) at the concluding session of a meeting on the reformed tax system.

Monday’s meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

After the meeting, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique told newsmen that the meeting exclusively considered the issue of reformed GST on services, while it had been reiterated that the system was a provincial right and any province that wished to transfer its collection of funds to the federal government would be welcomed.