ISLAMABAD-Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received a total of nearly 1.8 million income tax returns with an amount of about Rs22 billion.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received record number of returns along with highest ever amount of income tax at the time of filing. A total of nearly 1.8 million returns have been filed together with an amount of about Rs.22 billion. Last year at this time, 1.73 million returns were filed while about 13.5 billion were deposited as income tax. Comparatively, the returns are higher by 4% and tax deposited is higher by 63%.
It is important to note that the government had decided not to extend the final date of December 8, 2020 with a view to restore the credibility and predictability of the final date, and to promote tax discipline. However, to ensure that no hardship was faced by taxpayers, a number of special measures were adopted. These include liberal acceptance of requests for extension in filing date as available under the law, provision to file requests manually besides the on-line facility, enabling tax practitioners/advisors to file a single request for multiple clients; and enabling the chief commissioners to set-up special desks for collection of manual request and sorting their jurisdiction at their level.
The above measures have encouraged a large number of taxpayers to file extension requests which are being granted. It is estimated that at least 300,000 taxpayers have made use of this facility, thus taking the number of potential returns to 2.1 million, which is 21% higher compared to last year until this date.
It is further clarified that the process of filing is continuing unabated. A comparison with the returns of last year at the close of dead-line, which was 30 June 2020, would be meaningful when the number of additional returns to be filed until June 30, 2021 is available.
FBR commends the determination of taxpayers, and the support it received from members of Tax Bars from all over the country, who have made such record setting returns and income tax payments possible. The results establish that the decision not to allow general extension in the last date, would go a long way towards re-establishing much needed trust and credibility of the tax system. FBR has also decided to immediately roll-out action against the taxpayers who neither have filed the tax returns nor sought permission for extension.
FBR had achieved this feat only because of the dedicated efforts of its chairman, members, its field formations and the new IT team that has ensured that there was no major problem with its automated system of tax filings. FBR is working in accordance with the vision of the Prime Minister who has given top priority to the automation of all FBR processes. The guidance and support provided by PM’s Advisor on Finance and SAPM Revenue have also played an important role in registering this performance.
Businessmen demand 
extension in date for 
filing of tax returns
Meanwhile, Business community has demanded for extension in date for filing of income tax returns. Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that December 8, 2020 was the deadline for the filing of income tax returns 2020, but the FBR system was not working properly, due to which many taxpayers had to face great problems in filing their tax returns and this situation necessitated the further extension in the last date for filing of income tax returns.
Ilyas Khan said that due to the spike in the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, most of the tax consultants were unable to provide their services to the taxpayers in preparing income tax returns, therefore, it was the need of the hour that FBR should consider extension in date to facilitate maximum taxpayers in filing of income tax returns. He said that the lockdowns in the past had destroyed many businesses due to which a great number of the business community was facing difficulty in paying electricity bills, rents of shops and salaries of their workers. In these circumstances, extending the deadline for filing income tax returns was an important necessity.
ICCI president further said that out of a population of 206 million, about 1.7 million income tax returns were filed till December 8 as compared to 2.7 million last year. Thus, about 37% less tax returns have been filed this year. He said that the economic condition of the country would not improve unless the number of filers was increased. He said that there were about 8 million commercial electricity connections in the country and advance tax was also deducted from the electricity bills but filing of only 1.7 million income tax returns should be a cause of concern for the government. He said that the government has a record of power connections so every effort should be made to take advantage of it for expanding the tax base of the country.