Tax Reform Implementation Committee (TRIC) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have decided to register those mobile phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill of Rs 50,000 and above as tax payers, especially those that are operating out of the tax net.
Reportedly, CEO of Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL), in consultation with FBR Member (IT), can go through data provided by mobile phone companies on the basis of two slabs:
This data would then be utilized for issuance of tax notices and broaden the taxpayer base.
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Tax Reform Implementation Committee (TRIC) and FBR have also agreed that notices for the Tax Year 2017 would be issued to unregistered persons on the basis of all types of information including sale/purchase of immovable property, educational expenses, electricity expenses, etc. However, for the previous tax years, priority would be accorded to data pertaining to sections 236C, 236G, 236H and 236K of the Ordinance.
Information regarding trips from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and data obtained from mobile phone companies will be utilized for the issuance of notices. It was also decided that data in respect of educational expenses under section 2361 of the Ordinance can be utilized for issuance of notices. In this regard, DG (Withholding) will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the directives.
It was decided that priority would be accorded to information regarding sale/purchase of immovable property, travel, educational expenses, motor car manufacturers and mobile companies.
However, tax broadening efforts on the basis of TPL data would be an ongoing exercise.
In the next meeting, the committee will be apprised of the progress made with regard to dissemination of information / service of notices by all BTB Zones, sources added.
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After a thorough discussion, it was decided that FBR Member IT would prepare a list of top 10,000 persons from whom advance tax under Section 236K would be collected. Their corresponding data from banks, telecommunication and Civil Aviation Authority would be correlated and consolidated to divide those 10,000 people under non-filers and filers.
The data of property buyers shall also be used for broadening of tax base, especially if they happen to be among the list of top 10,000 non-filers. For the filers, the data shall be used to examine if their expenses are commensurate with their sources of income.