ISLAMABAD: Not a single major political party of the country is registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
The FBR has started scrutinizing tax matters of political parties throughout the country.
The political parties which are not registered with the FBR include Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s party (PPP), Awami Muslim League (AML), Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid e Azam (PML-Q), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamaat-e-Islam (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazal-ur-Rehman (JUI-F), Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) and Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP).
The FBR has sent this list to regional offices for further action.
The FBR has instructed all the Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Taxpayer Units (RTUs) to issue notices to the heads of the parties to ensure income tax return filing.
An FBR official said that if the parties failed to register the LTUs and RTUs concerned, the FBR will ask the Election Commission of Pakistan to act.
The official said the political parties are not exempted from income tax. So these parties have to declare their income, source of income and pay the due taxes. He said the parties can apply for the status of Non Profit Organization (NPO) to get the tax exemption, but first they would have to register with the FBR.
Earlier, a proposal was tabled for income tax exemption to political parties through Finance Bill 2017, by adding a new clause 143 to Second Schedule of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, which allowed exemption from income tax to: “Any income derived by a political party registered under the Political Parties Order, 2002 with the Election Commission of Pakistan.” However, this proposal was turned down and did not become part of the Finance Act 2017.
