ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) placed revised income tax return form on its website in compliance with the recommendations of the Senate and Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.
The revised income tax return form has been devised and updated on FBR’s website after considering public comments on the shortcoming deficiencies and difficulties in filing of returns.
A well placed source at FBR told Customs Today that FBR in principle accepted the recommendations of the Senate and Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue and then took the said measure.
However, the source said that FBR refused to accept almost 13 recommendations moved by the said bodies on technical and other grounds in the Finance Act. These recommendations pertain to income tax and of minor nature.
For example, a recommendation demanded the insertion of word ‘shall be’ in sub section 4 of section 7C, that read out’ after the word construction the word ‘ the project that has one thirty percent repeat allocations for basic income individual or business ten percent tax deduction ‘shall be’ allowed. But FBR refused to incorporate this recommendation.
Similarly, a recommendation in sub section 2 read as,’ sole proprietor associations of persons who invest in education, training, certification and professional development of employees shall be allowed deduction of tax up to ten percent, but FBR refused to insertion of this recommendation too.
In clause 22, section 68, sub-section 2, Senate committee had recommended insertion of word or shall be at the end of clause, which stated that after the word ‘regard’ the word ‘ to the value fixed or notified by any provincial authority for purpose of stamp duty or for any other purpose ‘or shall be’ inserted, but FBR turned down the said recommendation.
The source said that the rejection of recommendations move by the Senate and Senate Standing Committee on Finance by the FBR indicated sole autonomous profile and status of FBR as well as shunned away the perception that FBR was not allowed to function independently and freely.
Furthermore, the source said that as per rules of business of the parliament, any state department was bound to explain reason for not carrying forward any recommendation of the house, lest it would be deemed as breach of the privilege of the house.
“But in case of FBR, parliament has not held it questionable so far, which is a reflection of high esteem of FBR in the eyes of both parliament and parliamentarians” the source concluded.
