ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is carrying out an exercise to measure the possible impacts on revenue collections because of the changes and amendments proposed in budget 2014-15.
Proposals and changes including taxing vehicles, levying tax on accounting income of corporate sector, different tax rates for filer and non-filer of tax returns and procedural changes to process the audit cases were proposed by the FBR and were incorporated in the budget.
“In this regard data is being collected from different relevant wings and departments to analyze the impacts of the said changes so that more proposals for the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 can be formed as discussions on future proposal were in process at concerned quarters of FBR” a well placed source at FBR told this scribe here on Saturday.
The source said that FBR was concerned over the non responsive attitude of the taxpayers towards the proposal of different tax rates to fillers and non fillers of tax returns, because figures of fillers had not increased and even not touched the last year’s figure.
“FBR is in a mess and perplexed situation, why the taxpayers did not pay due attention towards the given incentives and benefits for tax return fillers in the clause of different tax rates for fillers and non fillers of tax returns” the source said adding that big and lucrative incentives had been announced for taxpayers for filling tax returns.
“Last year some 0.9 million taxpayers filed their tax returns whereas this year the number of tax returns fillers is very less than previous year’s number” the source added saying that even the salaried taxpayers also did not bother to file tax returns.
Such a state of affairs is a matter of grave concerns for FBR, therefore, the source said that a proposal of widening the difference of tax rate for fillers and non fillers of tax returns was under discussion and if matured, it would be incorporated in proposals for coming budget.
The source said that both the Finance Ministry and FBR especially the Inland Revenue-Policy Wing were also considering on the proposal with Tax Facilitation Wing to hire an international survey conducting firm to carry out a survey on the issue why taxpayers had not paid due heed towards the incentives announced in the form of different tax rates for fillers and non fillers of tax returns and why number of tax returns fillers had not increased.
“FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa has asked the Chief Tax Policy Tariq Masood, Chief Income Tax Policy Amjad Zubair Tiwana and Chief Inland Revenue Policy Baddar ud Din Qureshi to prepared a presentation on this issue which will be presented to him on his arrival back from Umra” the source observed.
