LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is desperately looking for potential taxpayers these days and is aggressively digging the record of Pakistani citizens who, at some stage, have come under prominent sections of the Income Tax Ordinance.
According to media, recently, the tax collecting agency has dispatched letters to parents, who are paying an annual fee of Rs200,000 to the educational institutes where their children are studying, asking them to declare their hidden assets and become a tax return filer.
“Data available with the FBR reveals that advance tax under Section 2361 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 has been collected from you and deposited in the government treasury, meaning thereby that you are paying an annual fee exceeding Rs200,000 per child (student) to educational institutions,” said the letter sent by the FBR’s Corporate Regional Tax Office (RTO), Lahore.
According to Section 2361, every educational institution is required to collect advance income tax at the rate of 5% on the fee paid. The person responsible for preparing monthly, bimonthly or quarterly fee vouchers shall also charge withholding tax in case the fee exceeds Rs200,000 annually.
“Please note that the FBR intends to register all those persons who are earning taxable income and are liable to file returns under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, but have failed to do so,” it stated, adding the registration drive also included the persons who were liable to be registered under the Sales Tax Act 1990 or Federal Excise Act 2005.
