FBR forms body to facilitate taxpayers

Committee constituted to create single portal

ISLAMABAD:

To facilitate taxpayers in submitting their sales tax returns, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has formed a special committee for designing, developing as well as implementing a single portal and divided it into three teams.

For the FBR and Punjab Revenue Authority, the committee -- in the first phase -- will design and implement a single portal sales tax return filing system for the telecom sector by October 31.

In the second phase, for the FBR and all provincial revenue authorities, the body will design and implement a single sales tax return filing portal for all sectors by May 31, 2024.

According to the document available to The Express Tribune, the special committee set up by the FBR comprises of eight members, who have been further split into three teams.

The first team will include Sher Salim Tariq, Dr Nasir Khan, and Aamir Amin Bhatti. The second team has been set up to enable sales tax return filing through a single portal.

Read ‘Income tax should be universal, not segmented’

This team has been established under the leadership of Zainul Abidin Sahi. Other members of this team include Mehwish Khan, Farhan Azhar and Shahid Sharif.

The third team will include two members -- Muhammad Khalid Jameel and Sadia Kamal. To facilitate taxpayers who failed to meet the initial deadline of September 30, the government announced a month’s extension for the filing of income tax returns for the tax year 2023.

The new deadline of October 31 is aimed at accommodating those individuals, who were unable to submit their returns within the earlier prescribed timeframe.

This decision came as a step to ensure that taxpayers were given ample opportunity to fulfil their obligation and avoid any potential penalties or legal consequences.

The FBR received 0.8% more income tax returns from salaried, non-salaried individuals, the association of persons and companies for the tax year 2023 by September 30.

It received 1.890 million returns till the previous deadline as against the 1.875 million returns filed in the same period of tax year 2022.

The FBR has recently put forward a plan to increase tax collection to Rs13 trillion within two years by elevating the current low tax-to-GDP ratio to 15% by the end of the fiscal year 2025.

The government has identified a tax gap of Rs5.6 trillion attributed to exemptions and weak compliance.

The interim government aims to generate an additional Rs5.6 trillion over two years, primarily through indirect taxes, constituting 68% of the plan.

It was suggested that there was potential to raise sales tax by Rs3 trillion, income tax by Rs1.8 trillion, and customs duty as well as federal excise duty by Rs800 billion.