The sell and purchase of taxable goods can be conducted by e-commerce means. It could be retailing and wholesaling of the goods which are taxable under sale tax Act 1990.
The Schedules of sale tax Act 1990 has provided the list of the supplies which will be subject to imposition of the taxation.Electronic page displayed as web pages are made open for providing paper catalogs viewer for making mail orders by electronic means of companies and wholesalers. These Web pages are similar to pages from a paper catalog displayed the images in form of the goods and product information in general departmental stories have arranged according to product nature.
These electronic pages called Active Server pages or java server pages can be browsed in Internet explorer or Netscape Navigator. These e-pages are linked to the seller's inventory control system can make it feasible web masters to verify whether the requested goods are in stock or not before allowing to buyer to come to agreement with seller for purpose of making purchase on chosen stock.
The buyer browse the relevant page displayed in Internet Explorer to select an item from an online catalogue of intangible goods and after apply all electronic option available the buyer orders the item electronically from given catalogue of goods available for sale. In ordinary circumstances these website don’t have fee or charges for viewing these catalogues or no additional charges are imposed for viewer for number of times he login for viewing or ordering of delivering of goods. But once the electronic order has made and appropriate fee are paid by electronic cash or bank draft to the seller. The product is physically delivered to the customer by a common carrier but the customers have to pay the price of these delivery charges.
A web site operator hosts electronic catalogues and inventory pages of multiple merchants on its computer servers at remote server with having direct link with personal computer network. Users of the web site can select and order products listed on catalogues and place orders online. The web site operator comes to contractual obligations with shoppers. The contractual obligation binds them for fulfilling the demand orders and merchants who come under legal obligation for accepting and fulfilling orders. The merchants pay the web site operator often receives commission equal to a percentage of the orders placed through these Active Server Pages.
In number of companies manage their web site operation themselves, some companies pay a sales commission to the web master or operator of a web site that refers sales leads to the provider. The web site operator will list one or more of the provider’s products on the operator’s web site. If the buyer clicks on one of these products, then the buyer receive the invoice of payment of bill and retrieve a web page from the provider’s site from which the product can be purchased. When the link on the operator’s web page is browsed, the buyer can identify stock available for sales and he pays the invoice bill by giving credit card number or clicks the option of making payment by bank draft.
The writer is an advocate of High Court and practicing immigration and corporate laws in Pakistan since September 2001. He is a self employed and pioneer in research on electronic commerce taxation in Pakistan. His articles were published widely in the critical areas of cyber crimes, electronic commerce, e-taxation and various other topics. He wrote LL.M thesis on titled “Legislation of electronic commerce taxation in Pakistan?in which he provided comprehensive legal proposals for statutory reconstruction of tax laws for purpose of imposition of taxation on e-business in Pakistan. Currently he is conducting is research on topic ‘Electronic commerce taxation: emerging legal issues of digital evidence? Author can be contacted by adil.waseem@lawyer.com