ISLAMABAD: Aimed at facilitating taxpayers, FBR has decided that wealth statement will be filed by those taxpayers who were declared or assessed in the preceding year or would be assessed this year by having net moveable assets exceeding Rs one million.
The amount of minimum penalty for not filing due taxes was increased up to Rs 50,000 in the budget 2013-14 but Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, now on the demand of the business tycoons, approved reduction in penalty amount from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10,000.
Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar and representatives of business tycoons held detailed meetings in recent days in Lahore as well as in Islamabad where different steps were approved going to be taken by the government aiming at facilitating taxpayers.
The provision of wealth statement along with returns is aimed at collecting Income Support Levy. According to FBR, this levy is meant to generate resources for providing financial assistance and other social protection measures to economically distressed persons and their families.
The Income Support Levy is to be paid by every individual having net movable assets exceeding Rs.1 million.
It is to be paid on or before the due date of filing of returns on the basis of declared version in Wealth Statement i.e. net moveable assets declared by the taxpayers themselves in their wealth statements. The rate of this levy is 0.5% of the net moveable assets.
“The government has agreed in principle to provide these incentives to the business community and Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) will be issued soon,” FBR spokesman Shahid Hussain Asad said while talking to Customs Today.
He said that the period for exemption certificate on import would be increased up to six months from existing limited timeframe. However, the sources said that SROs would be issued soon to this effect.
FBR, the sources said, has agreed to come up with new definition of active taxpayers. A clarification will be issued in Sales Tax General Order where taxpayers for not filing Sales Tax Returns up to two months will not be considered inactive taxpayers as currently after one month the taxpayers fall into this category.
FBR is also contemplating upon different options to provide incentives to public transport buses as their tax which was increased from Rs 100 to Rs 500 per seat would be reduced to Rs 250-300 in days ahead.
Despite facilitating taxpayers, one top official of FBR said that the Board would achieve its set tax collection target of Rs 2475 billion for the current fiscal year against a collection of Rs 1936 billion in last financial year, requiring a growth of around 28 percent to materialize the desired tax target for 2013-14.
