ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tuesday issued computerized notices to over 0.2 million taxpayers for verification of movable or immovable properties/vehicles, also including undeclared or underreported immovable properties.
Top FBR officials told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the taxpayers receiving such notices are only required to declare their concealed movable and immovable by revising their wealth statements.
These notices are served to verify the information available with the FBR and taxpayers should respond to notices to verify the information.
The notices have been issued to the taxpayers, who are regularly filing their income tax returns, but their declared information does not match with the data collected by the FBR from various external sources or third-party information.
The FBR has collected information about the properties and the owners have not declared the same in their wealth statements.
If the FBR's information is accurate, the taxpayer should declare the same or clarify its position to the tax department, the officials said.
The process of issuing electronically-generated notices would continue through the FBR's IT database of third-party information.
"There is no need for panic and taxpayers should simplify verify the FBR's information and respond to the notices," the high-ups in the FBR added.
On the other hand, tax experts stated the IT arm of the FBR i.e. Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) system has issued notices under Section 176 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
The last date for filing of revised wealth statements is December 31, 2020.
The FBR has provided an opportunity to the taxpayers to explain discrepancy in their returns.
The FBR is empowered to issue notice under Section 122 (Amendment of assessments) of the Income Tax Ordinance.
The existing notices only require the taxpayers to explain the discrepancy in the wealth statements to avoid litigation.
Under Section 176, the tax department can issue notice to anyone to obtain information or evidence.
The commissioner may, by notice in writing, require any person, whether or not liable for tax to furnish any information relevant to any tax leviable.
The notices have directed the taxpayers to explain the reason for not declaring the property and also revise the wealth statement and wealth reconciliation statement by December 31, 2020.
The system has also picked cases for issuance of notices where there is a mismatch of information or declared value of property is not matching with the information available with the FBR.
These notices are computer generated and mainly based on withholding tax data and transactions. The system has detected cases of withholding tax deductions at the time of registry/transfer of properties, and issued notices to the purchasers of such properties.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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