ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched an operation across the country to curb income tax evasion being committed by declaring the income from other sectors as agricultural income.
The FBR expects an additional revenue collection of Rs 2 to 3 billion by means of this operation.
A well placed official source told this scribe that higher authorities were very much perturbed by the practice of showing general income in the category of income earned from agricultural products through mis-declaration by the taxpayers in their annual tax returns.
The source said that the FBR collected an amount of Rs 15 billion as agricultural income tax during fiscal year 2013-14 but this amount was lower than Rs 14 billion collected in FY 2014-15. Moreover, around 50,000 taxpayers had shown their income earned from agricultural sector.
However, as per assessment reports compiled by the FBR’s intelligence wing, a large portion of the above mentioned taxpayers showed their income earned from other sectors in the category of agricultural sector and committed tax evasion.
In the light of this assessment report, FBR has launched a new drive to curb income tax evasion by means of mis-declaration of income. In this regard all the field formations have been mobilised to make vigorous pursue of suspect taxpayers who had shown their income in the category of agricultural sector.
Whenever the tax officials pursue any taxpayer, they seek provisional certificate issued by the provincial agricultural department to establish their income from agricultural sector, but, the taxpayers try to hide behind the provincial agricultural income tax acts which provide them exceptions from the submission of said provisional certificate.
However, under new drive the FBR has directed the field officials concerned to get the said articles and clauses of the provincial agricultural income acts clarified from the lead law consultants for the awareness of masses.
The source said that FBR has further geared up this process in the wake of dissatisfactory impacts on broadening of tax base as well as increasing the revenue collection in result of Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme.
