FBR urged to ease traders’ profile condition

Traders have called on the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to revise its policy for mandatory update of taxpayers’ profiles, which has created additional difficulties for the business community and is discouraging potential taxpayers from entering the tax net.

In a statement on Wednesday, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that just 2.3 million tax returns were filed in Pakistan.

“One of the main reasons behind the low tax return filing ratio is the FBR’s tough laws for businessmen, which have demoralised many eligible taxpayers who want to enter the tax net,” he said.

“Instead of simplifying the difficult tax laws, the Income Tax Ordinance has been amended through the Finance Act 2020 to make it mandatory for taxpayers to submit their profiles along with income tax returns even though all data is provided in the tax returns.

“Those who do not submit their profiles may be removed from the Active Taxpayers’ List as well as face fines and other penalties, which will further enhance their difficulties,” he said.

He requested Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and FBR Chairman Javed Ghani to resolve the matter by revisiting the decision on mandatory filing of profiles of taxpayers to ease their woes.

Khan said that anti-money laundering laws had also been applied to buyers and sellers of property, which would not only create more difficulties for businessmen but would also trigger a slowdown in construction activities.

The ICCI president said that there were about 8 million commercial meters of electricity across Pakistan while more than 3 million industrial units were operating but only 2.3 million tax returns were filed, which should be a cause for concerns for the policymakers.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2021.

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