Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to issue notices to at least 100,000 non-filers who individually own a house measuring more than 500 square yards or a vehicle over 1,000 cc to file their tax returns for the Tax Year 2018 – a news source reported.
FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi said that the executive had announced its Assets Declaration Scheme in its bid to address the concerns of the people pertaining to the taxation front. He reiterated the authority’s commitment to expand the tax bracket.
At present, around two million people have filed their tax returns for Tax Year 2018; and, according to the board, the said number is the highest tax collection figure in its history. For Tax Year 2019, the board said it was looking to register four million people as tax filers.
Moreover, it has compiled a list of eight to 10 million individuals who own a house larger than 500 square yards or a vehicles over 1,000cc. The authority will notify these individuals of their tax dues in a phased manner.
To facilitate this measure, the FBR recently directed its regional tax offices (RTOs) to issue notices to the owners of industrial and commercial utility connections, Zaidi told the media. There are around 341,000 industrial utility connections and more than one million commercial utility connections in the country.
Zaidi has urged the people to benefit from this opportunity and file their tax returns in time to avoid difficulties, stressing that ‘return filing is compulsory under the income tax ordinance’.
The notices will be couriered as well as sent electronically on available email address and cell number.
The penalty for non-filing of tax return is PKR 40,000. The FBR will send notices to non-filers known under the available data and prioritise high net-worth individuals and bigger cities first.
The FBR chairman has expressed the hope that with better enforcement, the target of PKR 5 trillion for current fiscal year would be achieved.
Zaidi also added that the revenue collection during the ongoing month had shown improvement and that the revenue collection in the next two months was of critical importance. It will set the trend for the remaining financial year.
