ISLAMABAD: People should get register with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) without any fear, as transparency has been ensured in system to facilitate the taxpayers by eliminating corruption.
FBR Inland Revenue (IR) Policy Member Rehmatullah Khan Wazir recommended this to potential taxpayers who avoid coming into tax net due to misperceiving. He added that the FBR will take measure as per law if they did not come into tax net voluntarily.
The board has acquired complete data from NADRA and it also has data of commercial and industrial consumers of electricity, the member said, adding that the record of registered vehicles has also been received from provincial motor registration authorities.
The FBR has also complete record of all DHAs, Bahir Town, Capital Development Authority (CDA), Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Multan Development Authority (MDA), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), while the details also being received from banks to detect the tax evaders, he explained.
Wazir revealed that the board was developing a mechanism that will force tax evaders to come into tax net. Non-taxpayers will have to face hurdlers to run their business as cost of doing business will increase due to increased tax rates for non-filers, he added.
The non-filers were paying more capital gain and withholding tax on banking transactions and the situation will be harder for them in the future, the member said, adding, “I personally ask non-taxpayers to file dual tax returns and take benefit of reasonable tax rates.”
In outgoing fiscal year 2015-16, effective policies and enforcement played essential role to achieve the revenue targets, he informed. The board monitored regulatory duty and withholding tax regimes to collect taxes, while tax collection from non-filers also give boost to total revenue, he further informed.
The positive results yielded in outgoing fiscal year also encouraged the officials, Member Wazir said, adding that the board has started making efforts to achieve target for new fiscal year 2016-17.
In the year, the board will received more revenue of Rs 16,000 million in wake of alternative corporate tax and Rs 14,000 million under the head of tax gross loss. Similarly, excessive revenue of Rs 8,000 million from builders, Rs 10 billion as WHT on transfer of property, Rs 5400 million through monitoring of WHT under new system, Rs 5000 million by increasing tax on securities of stock exchange, Rs 4000 million from non-filers, Rs 4500 million from commercial consumers, Rs 4500 million on vehicles, Rs 3000 million from insurance companies, Rs 3000 million as capital gain tax from non-filers, Rs 2000 million from commission agents of brokerage houses, Rs 15 billion from sales tax return filing system, Rs 5000 million by giving zero rated facility to dairy sector, Rs 500 million from stationary sector, Rs 4000 million by changing sales tax rate on cell phones, Rs 10 billion by increasing federal excise duty on cigarettes, Rs 18 billion by imposing Rs 1 per kilogram on cement, Rs 2 billion on mineral water, Rs 2 billion on beverages and Rs 4 billion on sugar by converting FED to sales tax will also be collected during new fiscal year.
Rehmatullah Khan Wazir told that 1.1 million people were brought into tax net during outgoing fiscal year and the board was also focusing on expanding tax base in the year. Nineteen percent growth was observed in the collections of sales tax and income tax during last year, while customs made highest collection, he said. The customs showed outstanding performance in last year as it collected 35 percent more revenue than preceding year 2014-15.
The FBR is playing its role in economic development of country, he said, adding that it was considering many facilities for taxpayers. “Implementation of tax reforms will be expedited this year.”
