Punjab orders hotels and restaurants to install electronic invoicing system

The Punjab Revenue Authority has told hotels and restaurants across the province to install its Electronic Invoice Monitoring System, as it moves to bring the hospitality sector fully into the tax net.

The directive was issued at a meeting with the Hotels and Restaurant Association on Friday, according to TechJuice. The meeting examined how the system would be installed across the hotel industry, the technical requirements involved and the difficulties hotels expect in running it. It focused on widening the tax base.

Association office-bearers assured the authority of their cooperation with the digitisation of invoicing.

PRA Chairperson Moazzam Iqbal Sipra told the meeting that issuing a computerised receipt to a customer for a service is a legal requirement. He said cooperation from the business community would make the tax system simpler, more transparent and more efficient, and that a wider tax net would encourage business activity and a culture of compliance.

Sipra warned that operators found issuing fraudulent electronic receipts would be watched closely and face heavy penalties. Firms that issue fake receipts or tamper with records even after the system is installed will face action and a tax surcharge, he said.

The authority is also preparing to fast-track the registration of new businesses and the installation of the system across 14 designated sectors, TechJuice reported. Firms that issue fake receipts or manipulate records face strict action under that drive, the report said.

Sipra directed all commissionerates to draw up strategies for identifying new taxable services, and officers have been given specific installation targets. Enforcement teams are to be formed to raise registrations and installations, he said.

He ordered close monitoring of pending tax cases and timely recovery of outstanding dues, and asked chambers of commerce and trade associations to help speed up the integration of businesses with the system.