ISLAMABAD -  Regional Tax Office Chief Commissioner Sajjad Haider Khan has said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would resolve genuine tax issue of business community to facilitate them in tax payment matters.

He said all eligible taxpayers should pay tax honestly as it was a national obligation. He said FBR preferred to receive taxes with friendly approach instead of adopting coercive measures. He said the department was making efforts for broadening tax base instead of burdening existing taxpayers with additional taxes and business community should cooperate with it in such efforts. He said that soon a Tax Advisery Committee would be formed to settle tax related issues in amicable manner.

He pointed out that there were a large number of wedding halls in Islamabad but only 15 were paying tax and urged that Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) should cooperate with tax department in its efforts to curb tax evasion by genuine taxpayers. He said the process of tax refunds was being streamlined. He said RTO Islamabad wanted to address tax issues of business community with consultation which would produced better results. He said that he believed in open door policy and if any taxpayer has any genuine problem, he should visit his office without any hesitation.

On the occasion, ICCI President Khalid Iqbal Malik said that million of rupees of taxpayers were stuck up in refunds due to which they were facing liquidity problems and urged that FBR should ensure timely tax refunds. He said FBR had extended last date for filing of income tax returns up to November 30, 2016, which was encouraging. However, he stressed that last date should be further extended up to December 31, 2016 to facilitate maximum taxpayers in discharging their tax obligations. He said the RTO chief commissioner should play role in reducing gap between taxpayers and tax department.

He said FBR’s web portal “IRIS” was giving problems in e-filing of income tax returns as it was very slow and was not responding timely. He said IRIS was also complicated and very difficult to understand for a common taxpayer. He emphasized that FBR should take measures to remove all problems of IRIS and make it user friendly.

He said putting more tax burden on existing taxpayers was not a wise approach and FBR should focus on broadening the tax base. He said that if RTO Islamabad has tax related complaint against any taxpayer in the region, ICCI should be taken on board in such matters so that issues could be settled in an amicable manner and without harassing any taxpayers.

ICCI Senior Vice President Khalid Malik, ICCI Vice President Tahir Ayub, Khalid Javed, Tariq Sadiq, Zafar Bakhtawari, Naeem Siddiqui, Khalid Chaudhry and others also highlighted various tax issues on the occasion.