LHC clarifies ST default surcharge calculation period
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHJC) has held that the period for calculation of default surcharge on the sales tax deposited after the prescribed dates of payment, commences from the sixteenth day following the applicable due date of the relevant tax period and not from the sixteenth day following the end of the tax period prescribed under the Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act. The court passed…
The Lahore High Court has ruled that the period for calculating default surcharge on late sales tax payments begins on the sixteenth day after the due date, not the sixteenth day after the tax period ends under the Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act. This decision was made in response to a petition by M/s. Al-Rehman Hospitality (Pvt) against the appellate tribunal's endorsement of an assistant commissioner's surcharge of Rs 2,486,219.
The court emphasized interpreting fiscal statutes according to their plain meaning, without adding or subtracting from the text. It also noted that the assessing authority's calculation conflated the sixteenth day of the month with the sixteenth day following the payment deadline, which is a different expression. The court found that the tribunal's approach failed to distinguish between the due date under Section 2(17) and the commencement date under Section 49(2).
The court ordered the assessing authority to re-compute the default surcharge based on the correct interpretation, specifically Sections 2(17), 2(44), and 49(2) of the Act.
Written by urgent.news from Business Recorder's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
