Filing of tax returns: LTBA demands extension in deadline up to December 31

The Lahore Tax Bar Association has urged Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Mahmood Pasha for extension in last date of filing of income tax returns up to 31st December, 2017 in order to facilitate the genuine taxpayer of the country, who are regularly contributing in the national exchequer as their moral and legal obligation for better and prosperous Pakistan.
A letter sent to the Chairman FBR has drawn his attention towards the fact that the income tax return/statement of final taxation was initially notified vide SRO.819(1)/2017 dated 17-08-2017 and final income tax return for non-corporate was notified vide SRO.981(1)/2014 dated 28-09-2017 after the due date of the tax returns 31-08-2017 for salaried individual and persons covered under Final Tax Regime (FTR) and income tax return for corporate taxpayer was notified vide SRO.982(I)/2017 dated 28-09-2017, which was also due to be e-filed for FTR on or before 30-09-2017, which was already extended up to 30-11-2017, whereas the law has provided three months statutory time to file their Income Tax Return/Statements, which is up to 27-12-2017.
The letter has further added that the organized protest by the religious parties and blockage of entrance, exits of main roads and non-availability of Internet facility, which causes the hardship for the Bar Members and taxpayer's to approach their offices to file their income tax returns/statement in due course of time. It said the exiting polices and harsh amendments in law (ie automatic selection for audit under section 214-D of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001) is also a reason of less number of filing of income tax returns that still needs further improvement and confidence of the taxpayer.
The existing capacity of FBR IT system also needs to be enhanced/upgraded to achieve the better results, which also creates problems in filing of income tax returns/statements. However, Bar Members are trying their level best to perform their national and professional duty to prepare and file the income tax returns/statements in order to complete their work, which shows a tremendous increase in number of returns filed up to 28-11-2017 (approx 916,000) as compared to last year.