Solution: Introduce tax forms in Urdu, suggests ICCI

It also demands fair taxation system with no exemptions

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called on the government to introduce all tax forms in Urdu language in the forthcoming budget and make them simple to facilitate taxpayers.

“The current tax return forms are in English and are so complicated and lengthy that it is difficult for a common taxpayer to understand and fill them correctly,” a statement quoted ICCI President Muzzamil Hussain Sabri and other office-bearers as saying.

“Difficult tax return forms are one of the main reasons for the low tax-to-GDP ratio,” it said. “Filling these forms is a challenging job for small businesses as they cannot afford services of tax experts for filing tax returns.”

According to a World Bank study, a taxpayer in Pakistan has to spend 560 hours on dealing with tax matters against the global average of only 267 hours.

It showed that the people of Pakistan had to spend more time on tax compliance, so the government should take measures to make the process simple and quick, the ICCI officials suggested.

They termed the prevailing tax system unfair, saying it provided tax exemptions and concessions to certain sectors and overburdened the business and industry.

According to them, tax exemptions and concessions worth Rs342 billion were provided to independent power producers in 2012-13, which were almost 46% of the total income tax revenue.

They asked the government to develop a fair taxation system that should bring every taxable income into the tax net and remove all exemptions and concessions, which would contribute to broadening the tax net and improving the revenue. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2015.

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