ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue has planned to add 1 million new taxpayers in the tax net during the current fiscal year.
Sources said that the FBR has decided to give powers to Inland Revenue (IR) officers in more than 100 Regional Tax offices for the purpose of broadening the tax base.
The tax department has been facing severe criticism from the higher-ups in the government for not identifying new taxpayers, and burdening the existing taxpayers.
Therefore, the FBR has decided to enhance its presence in every district/Tehsil of the country, sources added.
Recently, the Ministry of IT, NADRA, and tax officials also held a meeting for identifying new taxpayers and it was decided that relevant departments will share details with each other in order to identify new taxpayers.
In Pakistan, there is a very low number of those who are voluntarily registered with FBR. The tax department included section 114 in the income tax ordinance, to identify new taxpayers.
Under section 114 of the income tax ordinance, Every individual whose income under the head ‘Income from business’ exceeds the prescribed limit in a tax year is also required to furnish return of income from the tax year.
Recently, the World Bank in its report mentioned that FBR has added 1.079 million (cumulative) total new taxpayers (identified through automated data sharing, ICT-based business intelligence tools, surveys, and other enforcement methods) to the tax base during FY20 and FY23.
In FY20, 121,063 taxpayers were added, in FY21, a total of 97,819 were added, in FY22, a total of 243,795 were added, and in FY23, a total of 616,517 taxpayers were added.
