ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has identified over 85,000 potential non-filers and decided to send notices to them.
These non-filers were identified when the Punjab Police shared data of owners of properties collected through Tenants Registration System of Lahore Zone with the FBR. The Punjab’s Excise Department is also in talks with the FBR for sharing data of vehicle registration and property registration in computerised form so that it can be utilised for the purpose of broadening of tax base on the basis of different cities of the largest province of the country.
The federal tax authority sorted out 117,339 valid CNICs of property owners out of which over 85,000 were found unregistered as they did not possess National Tax Number (NTN) despite earning rented money while the remaining were NTN holders.
Now the data of over 85,000 non-registered have been separated on the basis of posh localities like Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Cantonment, Gulberg, Model Town and many other affluent areas of the city and the process of sending out tax notices was underway in a bid to broaden the narrowed tax base.
The official sources said that on the basis of gathered data, the FBR has sent out 113 unregistered property owners from ‘DHA, Y Block, Phase-III’ and ‘Defence Raya Villas’ identified for issuance of tax notices.
Out of 113 cases, addresses of 46 properties were correct and complete, therefore, notices u/s 181, 114 and 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 were so issued to the property owners.
In Pakistan, the number of return filers stood at 1.2 to 1.3 million out of 207 million population, indicating that massive efforts were required to bring many more millions into tax net.
