ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has further expedited efforts to increase the number of tax filers.
Documents show that the FBR increased the number of taxpayers to an impressive 1.2 million last year. As per FBR data, over 1.2 million tax returns were received last year but of them, a staggering 31 percent of filers failed to contribute even a single penny as tax to the national exchequer. However, a mere 0.2 percent of the total number of files coming to a dismal figure of 2,445 as they contributed more than Rs10 million each.
The most disturbing figures related to the individual taxpayers who merely contributed Rs2.11 billion reflecting how far the distance FBR needs to cover before finding real taxpayers in good number.
Figures of taxpayers compiled by the FBR showed startling results as last year’s number showed that just 1.2 million persons filed tax returns and out of these filers 31 percent didn’t pay tax at all. Similarly just 0.2 percent (total 2445 filers) paid more than Rs10 million tax. Other figures are also very disappointing as far as total collection from individuals is concerned as total collection from individuals during tax year remained at Rs211 billion, which speaks a lot about the performance of the FBR.
