LAHORE - Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Member Khawaja Adnan Zaheer on Monday said that the board has started an extensive drive to boost the filing of income tax returns by reaching out to large public and private sector organisations and companies, facilitating their employees with taxable income to file their tax returns.

ICMA Pakistan has joined hands with FBR in organising a series of Seminars at Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Faisalabad and Karachi to supplement in this national duty to create awareness about advantages of filing tax returns and transfer its benefits to society at large. The tax revenue target set by the government for FY2017-18 is Rs4 trillion which is 19 percent more than the collection of Rs3.362 trillion during FY2016-17. The present drive of FBR is yielding result as according to figures released, the FBR’s provisional collection at the national level amounted to Rs449 billion in July-August, which is higher by 23 percent as compared to around Rs365 billion collected in the similar period of the last financial year.

Undeniably, taxes are the primary source of revenue for any country in the contemporary world.

This is the reason each country generally endeavours to improve the general state and quality of its taxation system. Tax noncompliance, in the form of tax avoidance and tax evasion, is the most common taxation problem. However, it is widely believed that a state can overcome this problem by ensuring an efficient tax regime as well as a healthy tax culture. Tax literacy is an important tool to promote tax culture. It can go a long way in persuading people to pay their due taxes honestly and promptly. Extensive persuasive messaging can also influence people’s perception and attitude towards paying taxes, which will untimely give rise to tax compliance behaviour.

Proper payment of taxes will not only stabilize the economic condition of the country but will also improve the living standard of people. The class gap will reduce significantly amid the improving financial conditions of poor and literacy rate will improve drastically due to a high number and quality of public education institutes. More public hospitals will be built, which means that public will have access to advanced and less-expensive medical facilities.