Restaurant, cafe sector: PRA expanding digital monitoring to curb tax evasion

Business Recorder reported that the Punjab Revenue Authority, or PRA, has launched a fresh drive against tax dodging by eateries and coffee outlets. Its enforcement arm will get reinforcement, and digital monitoring is being widened to stop abuse of online payments and counterfeit receipts. PRA chairman Moazzam Iqbal Sipra cautioned that domestic and international food chains refusing digital payments will face tough action.

At a review meeting on enforcement team performance, Sipra said digital payments must go only to bank accounts formally declared by the businesses, a step aimed at preventing record manipulation. The Lahore Division commissioner was instructed to step up field operations and to examine complaints raised on social media without delay. Notices have already gone to more than 70 restaurants over alleged breaches, the report said.

The chairman also ordered that QR codes be compulsory on every receipt generated through the Electronic Invoice Monitoring System, so customers and officials can check them on the spot. Sipra called tax deposits from customers a legal and moral duty and warned of heavy penalties for collecting such taxes through fraud without remitting them to the authority.