SIALKOT: The officials of the Regional Tax Directorates in Sialkot and Gujranwala allegedly remained unsuccessful to persuade the local non-filers to take benefit of the tax amnesty scheme, which was recently launched by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for expanding the tax net and bringing maximum people under the tax net.
The senior tax lawyers said that they do not expect that both the Regional Tax Directorates in Sialkot and Gujranwala would achieve the official target.
The FBR had given official target of bringing 32,000 people under tax net to the Regional Tax Directorate Sialkot (comprising Sialkot, Narowal and Gujrat districts) and a target of bringing 35,000 under tax net to the Regional Tax Directorate Gujranwala (comprising Gujranwala, Mandi Bahaud Din and Hafizabad districts). The officials had been directed to develop strong contacts with 500 social, business and trade organizations, including Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) in this regard.
The FBR teams have yet contacted as many as 300 business, trade and social organizations in Gujranwala Division.
The senior FBR officials added that the FBR’s field teams are not getting the desired response from the local traders, saying that the traders have raised their reservations about the tax amnesty scheme.
The traders were of the view that this Tax Amnesty Scheme has been made limited only to the shopkeepers , as only the shopkeepers could benefit through this scheme, while, the traders, industrialists and other businessmen could not benefit through this scheme. They said that the beneficiaries of Tax Amnesty Scheme would be responsible to pay their taxes for four consecutive years besides, giving the complete details of their businesses to the FBR, as they would also become under the tax net permanently.
The senior tax lawyers said that the people are only asking about the details of the Tax Amnesty Scheme but not ready yet to take any benefit through this scheme here.
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