KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ruled out further extension in deadline of filing tax returns for the tax year 2016 and vowed to take ‘harsh’ action against the non-filers after deadline.
As many as, 467,778 taxpayers filed returns till November 15, who are much below than the filers for the year 2015. According to the Board’s officials, the FBR adopted a soft stance for non-filing by business and salaried individuals beyond last dates for tax years 2014 and 2015.
The officials vowed to take harsh actions against the non-filers after November 30. The current deadline was extended from August 31 for salaried persons and September 30 for business individuals, association of persons and people falling under the final tax regime.
The officials said if a person has been unable to file the return despite an intention he can apply for an extension under Section 119 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
The law empowers a commissioner to grant up to 15 days of extension in case of a taxpayer’s absence from Pakistan, sickness or any other reasonable cause.
On its official website, the FBR also asked the taxpayers to file their returns before the deadline. The FBR has already extended the last date several times. The actual due date for salaried persons was August 31 and September 30 for business individual, Association of Persons (AOPs), persons in Final Tax Regime (FTR) and companies having special tax year.
The FBR in a press release last week already announced that it would not further extend the last date for filing income tax return for tax year 2016.
