Islamabad: The government has decided to introduce a legal framework to deal with non-filers in the upcoming Budget 2019-20, reported a news source. The introduction of this punitive law is expected to nullify the penalties introduced by the previous government against non-filers of income tax returns.
By formalizing the said legal arrangement, the government aims to double the existing number of tax filers in the country. At the moment, less than two million Pakistanis file their income tax returns on a going basis. As per reports, increasing this count to four million people promises additional tax collection of PKR 688 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.
In this regard, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has suggested the introduction of a ‘10th schedule’ in the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. This addition will direct for two major legal undertakings: increasing withholding tax (WTH) percentage by 100% for individuals not listed in the active taxpayers’ list, and charging WTH collection agents with sharing the traceable information of non-filers with the FBR.
In addition, the government has also called for the abolishing of 20 withholding tax sections that do not result in the generation of significant income.
For the fiscal year 2019-20, the FBR has been tasked with collecting PKR 5.55 trillion in taxes.
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