KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has fined around 300 high net-worth individuals for not filing tax returns and wealth statements.
Official sources said that these 300 individuals were issued show cause notices and warnings, but they remained non-compliant.
In September, the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), Karachi started scrutinising tax records of 3,000 high net-worth officials, who are working at big companies. Around 60 percent or 1,800 officials were compliant, and duly filed their returns for tax years 2014 and 2015, said an official at the LTU. Remaining non-compliant individuals were issued notices to comply with the tax laws, he added. “Another 900 individuals filed their returns by October this year,” the official added.
The objective of the exercise, the officials said, was to identify tax evasion and avoidance by board members, chief executives, chief financial officers and chief operating officers, etc.
According to Income Tax Ordinance 2001, a person who failed to file income tax return or wealth statement could face fine as well as imprisonment for at least one year.
