ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Member Inland Revenue Policy Dr Mohammad Iqbal has said that the Board has started sending tax notices to 10,000 high worth individuals after analysing data from withholding taxes.
The FBR used data of withholding taxes on account of transferring of properties, registration of vehicles, electricity connections and others for identifying these potential taxpayers.
“The FBR has identified 10,000 high worth individuals through using withholding (WHT) data and now tax notices will be issued under section 114 of Income Tax Ordinance 2001 in order to lure non-filers for filing of returns in ‘polite manner’,” said Dr Iqbal.
While answering a question about reasons of failure of broadening of such scheme in the past, he said that this scheme was not failed one as it helped achieving broadening of tax base when the FBR sent out tax notices with the help of data.
“But this scheme was stopped due to unknown reasons in the past otherwise it could have helped bringing many more into tax net so far,” he added.
The FBR’s official briefed the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last week during an official meeting on “Tax Reforms” that the broadening of tax base was top priority as they identified 10,000 high worth individuals who were spending a lot of money for living and maintaining luxurious lifestyle but they were reluctant to file their income tax returns.
