ISLAMABAD: Tax practitioners, tax advisers, chartered accountants and tax experts have requested caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar to grant one-month extension in date for filing of income tax returns up to November 30, 2023 on humanitarian grounds.
In this connection, Javed Iqbal Qazi, Advocate Supreme Court has written a letter to finance minister here on Wednesday.
According to the tax expert, it is submitted that the income tax returns for the Tax Year 2023 have been filed by 2.9 million taxpayers up to Oct 31, 2023 against the FBR’s estimate of 4.7 million.
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Due to climatic conditions, advocates, tax practitioners and their staff are suffering from various ailments including dengue, seasonal fever and other diseases, Qazi said.
Therefore, they have not been able to prepare and submit returns of their clients. Moreover, due to adverse financial position of the taxpayers at large the taxpayers have not been able to deposit their tax liability in the government treasury.
Although the data for the preparation of the returns is available with the Advocates, Chartered Accountants and Tax Practitioners yet due to non-availability of their staff they are not in a position to prepare the returns and issue challans to their clients for depositing the same in government treasury. Last year, the last date for Tax Year 2022 was extended by the federal government up to December 15, 2022.
Tax adviser said that the interim government is here to facilitate the common man of the country and not to punish/penalise them.
The tax advisers have received massages from members from all over Pakistan to request for extension of date. The FBR offices/banks closed at 5:00 pm on Oct 31, 2023 whereas in the past the offices/banks used to close on midnight on the last date.
In the best interest of country, revenue and taxpayers, the last date of filing/submission of returns be extended to November 30, 2023 instead of October 31, 2023, Qazi added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023