Several tax collectors have yet to file returns

This week, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surprised tax filers by not extending the date for filing returns and issued notices to roughly 850,000 people over their failure to file returns in time.

The real surprise, however, for the tax collecting authority is that a large number of its 22,000 officials have also yet to file returns – skeleton in the cupboard.

The details surfaced in the Express News’ talk show, The Review, on Saturday night when the anchorpersons – Shahbaz Rana and Kamran Yousaf – shared details of filers and non-filers for the tax year 2020.

During the show, Rana while revealing that several top officials of the FBR have also taken extension for filing returns urged the prime minister to issue directions for a report revealing exactly how many of the FBR officials have filed returns before the deadline – December 8.

In discussion, the hosts shared that the FBR has started serving tax notices on 850,000 people who filed their tax returns in tax year 2019 but skipped in 2020.

These people have been served tax notices under Section 114, directing them to file returns, and under Section 182 that empowers the FBR to impose a minimum Rs40,000 penalty on late filers.

Rana said nearly two million people have filed returns but another one million have not fulfilled their obligation when compared with the previous year. He said as many as 4.5 million people having NTN numbers – which make it 70% of NTN holders – have not filed income tax returns.

The FBR has said at least 425,000 taxpayers have sought extension in filing the returns, thus taking the number of potential filers to 2.3 million.

During the show, Rana also read a letter by a former bureaucrat and brother of former FBR chairman, who along with others couldn’t fathom the FBR’s surprise move of not extending the deadline.

Yousaf while commenting on the new alignments in the region as well as Pakistan’s ties with Gulf countries shared that Pakistan is making efforts to arrange Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to both Saudi Arabia and UAE. He said the visit is being planned for January 2021.

The hosts discussed about the UAE’s visas ban for Pakistan along with other 12 Muslim countries, saying the ban has been in place since November 18 and one estimate suggests that Pakistan is losing 800 to 1,000 jobs daily because of the decision.

Yousaf raised questions over lack of clarity on the issue from the top-level officials.

Former Ambassador to Bahrain Javed Malik while commenting on Pakistan’s relations with the two Arab countries said that Arab countries are diversifying their economies; establishing new cities; investing in new avenues in view of the changing dynamics of the world.

Commenting on Pakistan returning Saudi loan instead of the latter converting it into a grant, Malik said that Pakistan has religious as well as strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia but situation is altogether different for both the countries, especially, after Covid-19 outbreak.