ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will carry out field surveys for discovering new taxpayers and broadening the tax base with the assigned target of registering at least 10-15 percent new return filers, who would also make tax payments.
Sources told Business Recorder, here on Thursday, that the concept of field survey of the un-registered businessmen was part of the overall reform plan of the FBR.
The FBR will electronically connect with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the provincial tax departments, and the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR), for data sharing and exchange of information for broadening the tax base, and detecting under-reporting of taxes by the citizens of Pakistan.
Sources stated that one of the major reform initiatives of the FBR was the data sharing and connectivity between the FBR and the NADRA, the SECP, the provincial tax departments, and the AGPR.
The FBR has planned to complete the task by December 30th, 2020.
According to the sources, the FBR will fix an annual target of 10-15 percent for bringing new income tax filers into the tax net, who would also ensure payment of taxes.
The FBR has planned that the broadening of the tax base would also be done with the help of field surveys of the un-registered business community, data analytics, and third-party data available with the FBR's databank.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, has also directed the NADRA, and the FBR to establish linkage for data sharing and data analytics.
The FBR has provided a list of 100,000 Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) numbers of unregistered persons to the NADRA for data enrichment to broaden the tax base.
The NADRA was required to link those 100,000 CNICs with its database covering family tree, and provide all the data to the FBR, for further processing and broadening the tax base.
During last meetings between the FBR and the NADRA, the authority has asked the FBR to provide third-party data including property /land data, vehicles/utilities' information, telecom, banks/stock market data, etc, for analysis/working out tax liability of tax evaders/short-filers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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