COMPANY REGISTRATION SERVICES AFTER COVID-19 CRISIS

In the area of starting a business, doing business will analyze how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the services provided by the company registration and how governments are addressing challenges for new entrepreneurs. In some markets in lockdown, business registration is restricting access, reducing working hours, or closing their doors for some time. In some other economies suffering from the pandemic, online assistance is offered to organize and operate a new business registration in Pakistan . Some of these online services were already existing and remain operational for the company registration ; some of them are being offered as a response in the pandemic context. More broadly, doing business will keep track of any actions related to the business start-up process and adopted due to the Covid-19 situation. The project is also maintaining records of any planned reform that has been rescheduled because of the pandemic.

Around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a decrease of activities for building allowing authorities, which are either in weeks-long lockdowns or restricting their efforts to emergency operations. Doing business will collect new data for company registration on the operational status of the permitting officials – whether there is a lockdown if routine activities are still being carried during the lockdown period if reduced working hours are in place, if only pressure and critical tasks are being undertaken, or if a complete shutdown is in effect. The project will also measure if the government has established any restrictions on construction activity during the Covid-19 outbreak and whether water and sewage utility companies are offering any measures to ensure continuity of services. Information will also be obtained on measures taken by governments to support the architecture, engineering and building industry.

Governments around the world are implementing tax relief measures to address the problem of liquidity for households and businesses during this health crisis. The relief measures fall into several categories by the type of taxes that are affected – personal taxes, company registration taxes, consumption taxes – and by the type of actions undertaken – an extension of deadlines, deferral or waiver of payments, reduction in rates, speeding up tax refunds, suspension of tax audits, waiver of late payment surcharges and interest, etc. Doing business registration in Pakistan will be analyzing the measures by type of action taken. Additionally, doing business will monitor how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the services provided by the tax administrations globally. This includes reduction/extension of office hours, office closings, remote work for tax agents, access limitation to offices, delays or stopping in issuing advance tax rulings, and issuing tax returns, delays/suspension of the review process, shifting roles to online such as filing of tax returns/payment of costs rather of in-person visits.