FBR yet to announce final date for ATL's enforcement

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has not announced any final date for enforcement of the "Active Taxpayer List" (ATL) for suspending registration of non-compliant income taxpayers. Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that the FBR has decided to remove some harsh conditions of the proposed Income Tax Rules on the "Active Taxpayer List" (ATL) to check non-compliant income taxpayers.
The Board has dully considered the comments of the business and trade on the proposed ATL issued through an SRO.72(I)/2011 on January 26, 2011. The FBR had given 15 days period for comments to the stakeholders. Even after passage of over one month the final list of ATL on the direct taxes side has not been issued.
The final rules would incorporate the viewpoint of chambers and trade bodies and tax bar associations, but there is a need of deterrence to check growing level of non-compliance. The gap between the National Tax Number (NTN) holders and actual filers of income tax returns and non-filing of returns by corporate sector reflects non-compliance on the direct taxes side.
So far, the FBR has yet not given any specific deadline for the implementation of the ATL on the direct taxes side. The FBR wanted to suspend income tax and sales tax registrations of the registered persons, whose names would be excluded from the "Active Taxpayer List" (ATL). According to an SRO.72(I)/201, the Board has proposed amendments to the Income Tax Rules, 2002.
According to the rules, the registration of the taxpayer removed from the ATL will be treated as suspended for the period of his removal from ATL and such taxpayer shall not be treated as a registered person during the suspension period unless regularised through an order by the respective commissioner (Enforcement). The entire suspension period of registration will automatically be regularised immediately upon compliance by the defaulter and restoration in the ATL.
The procedure said that the non-compliant taxpayers would be removed from the Active Taxpayers' List through the automated system. In case of persons required to file the declarations electronically, upon expiry of the due date, the computer system will send an e-intimation at the registered e-mail address of the taxpayer informing him about his default and advising him to make the compliance within 7 days time, failing which its name shall be removed from the Active Taxpayers' List.
After completion of 7 days compliance time after issuance of the e-intimation sent through the computer system referred above, the computer system will remove automatically the name of the non-compliant taxpayer from the Active Taxpayers' List. In case of persons not required to file the declarations electronically, upon expiry of the due date and feeding of all the returns in the computer system, the respective Commissioner (Enforcement) shall initiate the ATL process through the computer system whereby the computer system will print Intimation Letter to the non-compliant taxpayer informing him about his default and advising him to show the compliance within 10 days, failing which his name will be removed from the Active Taxpayers' List.
Upon receipt of the return, the respective Commissioner (Enforcement) shall arrange to feed the return to the computer within a week. After completion of a period of 10 days of the intimation issued by the computer system referred above, the computer system will remove the names of the non-compliant taxpayers from the Active Taxpayers' List. The computer system will execute the ATL procedure every night at 2400 hrs and bring the compliant taxpayers back to the ATL, draft rules said.