LAHORE: The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) will act against local and international food chains and coffee shops that refuse digital payments, the chairman said, as the provincial tax body strengthens its vigilance wing and digital monitoring to stop sales tax being collected from diners but not deposited.
Chairman Moazzam Iqbal Sipra said digital payments must go only to bank accounts that companies have officially declared, to prevent manipulation of records. He also ordered that QR codes be made mandatory on all receipts issued through the Electronic Invoice Monitoring System so customers can verify them instantly.
At a review of enforcement teams on Monday, Sipra directed the PRA’s Lahore commissioner to step up field operations and ordered immediate checks on complaints received through social media. Notices have been issued to more than 70 restaurants over alleged violations, the authority said.
The PRA reported 70 notices in two days a week ago and did not say whether Monday’s figure referred to the same cases.
The push builds on a series of measures this year. In August the authority banned handwritten bills at restaurants and marriage halls and asked diners to insist on digital receipts bearing a PRA invoice number and QR code, and to report outlets that refuse card payments. In September it set up a digital monitoring cell, after posting its highest-ever two-month collection of Rs54.8 billion.
Sipra said depositing tax collected from the public was both a legal and a moral obligation, warning of heavy penalties for businesses that charge customers tax through fraudulent practices and keep the money.
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