Lahore  -  Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue Ahmad Shuja Khan has said that tax return forms were now available in national and all regional languages.

He was speaking at an interactive session at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Monday. LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah, Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan, Vice President Tahir Manzoor Ch, SAARC Chamber President Iftikhar Ali Malik, Humaira Maryam and Executive Committee members were also present. The Chief Commissioner promised to extend cooperation to Hafeez Centre fire victims. He said “we would not stay behind in this hour of need for our brothers of Hafeez Centre”.

He said that tax forms were cumbersome therefore it was decided to translate these into regional languages. He said that FBR is working to establish close liaison with the business community and taking all possible measures for trust building.

He said that FBR considers businessmen as partners and not adversary. He said government needs revenue to run its affairs smoothly. He also gave a presentation and replied the queries raised by the participants. Mian Tariq Misbah hoped that in coming years, the documentary requirements of FBR will be further simplified that would certainly encourage more people to become filer.

He said that according to the government documents, FBR’s tax collection in 2019-20 was 3,997 billion rupees which needs to be improved considerably. The right way for enhancing the tax collection is to expand tax base by adding new taxpayers otherwise the regular taxpayers will continue to be over-burdened.

He hoped that rational tax policies would be revised according to the new economic scenario which has been reshaped due to COVID-19 outbreak. Similarly, the private sector should be facilitated to the maximum extent through giving tax exemptions till the revival of business activities.

Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan and Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry said that tax net should be broadened to reduce burden from the existing taxpayers.

They also urged the FBR to extend the last date for filing of income tax returns.