800k file income tax returns, statements: FBR

Number goes up by 90k in comparison to last year.

ISLAMABAD: About 800,000 people have filed their income tax returns and statements and paid Rs8 billion in taxes till the expiry of the deadline, an addition of 90,000 people in the net as compared to the previous year, claimed the national tax agency on Tuesday.

The Federal Board of Revenue has received about 800,000 returns of income and statements till Tuesday, the last day for regular individual taxpayers, according to a statement issued by the FBR. Last year, 711,000 returns and statements were received by the FBR, it added. There was an increase of 89,000 or 12.5% over the previous year.



Last year’s returns also included those filed by the corporate sector, while for the current year the last date for companies is December 31, said Shahid Hussain Asad, FBR spokesman. He said the number of returns were expected to significantly increase once the companies also file.

While there is a significant jump in terms of number of filers, the revenues remained at almost last year’s level. This year Rs8 billion were paid, said Asad, with the figure being below Rs7 billion last year.

The number of returns filed this year will further increase, as an appreciable number of income tax returns were in the pipeline, which were being filed to avail the benefits announced by Prime Minister in his Tax Incentive Package for the business community, the FBR added.

Taxpayers who have been granted extension will also file within a week or two. It is expected that about 125,000 more returns will be filed by the year-end.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2013.

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