KARACHI: President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Abdullah Zaki, while appreciating extension in last date for filing of income tax returns up to Oct 31, urged the Federal Board of Revenue to simplify new rules in filing income tax returns.
In a statement, President KCCI said that the FBR authorities should seriously consider simplifying these rules as such unnecessary rules are making procedures more complex. The status quo should be restored to tax year 2013 in order to ensure smooth functioning of businesses, he added.
He said that complex procedures will not help the FBR in its quest to enhance tax base of the country but will only create more problems for the businessmen and industrialists, besides discouraging existing taxpayers and promoting tax evasion.
He said that the decision makers should focus on simplifying tax collection procedures and should facilitate taxpayers. “The government should create an enabling environment in which people should be encouraged to pay taxes as presently, keeping in view the hardships being faced by the existing taxpayers, the non-taxpayers prefer staying away from the FBR which should not happen”, he added.
Prior to imposing such rules, the business community, particularly the representatives of regional chambers of commerce and industry across Pakistan should be taken on board, Abdullah Zaki advised.
He pointed out that the businessmen and industrialists were facing many challenges due to multiple factors including political uncertainty, energy outage, rising inflation and deteriorating law and order situation. Therefore, the FBR should refrain from creating more problems and devise strategies to facilitate business community so that they could expand their businesses as enhanced revenue collection can only be ensured by promoting growth of business activities.
He said that the solution to slow economic growth lies in the revival of progressive taxation policies and improved tax collection system. Proactive measures should be introduced to plug the leakages and loopholes in the prevailing tax system.
