Record 1.8 million returns filed with Rs22bn Income Tax

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) received record number of returns totalling 1.8 million along with highest ever amount of income tax of Rs. 22 billion at the time of filing of returns

Last year at this time, 1.73 million returns were filed while about Rs. 13.5 billion were deposited as income tax, said FBR statement issued here adding comparatively, the returns increased by 4 percent and tax deposited registered growth of 63 percent.

It is important to note that the government had decided not to extend the final date of December 8, 2020 with a view to restore the credibility and predictability of the final date, and to promote tax discipline.

However, to ensure that no hardship was faced by taxpayers, a number of special measures were adopted including liberal acceptance of requests for extension in filing date as available under the law, provision to file requests manually besides the online facility, enabling tax practitioners/advisors to file a single request for multiple clients; and enabling the chief commissioners to set-up special desks for collection of manual request and sorting their jurisdiction at their level.

The aforementioned measures had encouraged a large number of taxpayers to file extension requests which were being granted.

It is estimated that at least 300,000 taxpayers had made use of this facility, thus taking the number of potential returns to 2.1 million, which is 21% higher compared to last year until this date.

The board clarified that the process of filing was continuing unabated. A comparison with the returns of last year at the close of dead-line, which was 30 June 2020, would be meaningful when the number of additional returns to be filed until 30 June 2021 is available.

The board commended the determination of taxpayers, and the support it received from members of Tax Bars from all over the country, who had made such record setting returns and income tax payments possible.

The results establish that the decision not to allow general extension in the last date, would go a long way toward re-establishing much needed trust and credibility of the tax system.

The board had also decided to immediately roll-out action against the taxpayers who neither have filed the tax returns nor sought permission for extension.

The FBR had achieved this feat only because of the dedicated efforts of its chairman, members, its field formations and the new IT team that has ensured that there was no major problem with its automated system of tax filings, the statement added.

It said that FBR was working in accordance with the Vision of the Prime Minister who has given top priority to the automation of all FBR processes.

The guidance and support provided by PM’s Advisor on Finance and SAPM Revenue have also played an important role in registering this performance.