The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made it clear that there won’t be any further extension in the tax amnesty scheme. The FBR Chairperson Rukhsana Yasmeen told that the bureau is working on a plan to expand the tax base before the next government comes into power.
The outgoing government recently took a decision that saw 0.5 million taxpayers slide off the tax net. The chairperson told that FBR is making plans about increasing the tax base to be presented before the new incoming government.
Rukhsana Yasmeen added:
We are making plans to be presented before the incoming government after general elections for expanding already narrowed tax base. Just one decision taken by the last government excluded 0.5 million taxpayers from the tax net.
The PML-N government introduced tax reforms, increasing the minimum taxable income slab to Rs 1.2 million a year from the previous threshold of Rs 400,000.
ALSO READ
Woman From Karachi Declares Rs 165 Billion Under Tax Amnesty Scheme
The New Plans
The newly-appointed FBR chairperson told that the caretaker government doesn’t have the mandate to carry out any changes in the tax policies. Instead, the FBR is planning to make a detailed policy on how the tax base could be broadened which will be tabled before the new government.
About the amnesty scheme, she added:
We are making all out efforts to lure potential under filers and non- filers to come into tax net.
The government previously extended the scheme until July 31, however, the chairperson made it clear that there won’t be any more extensions.
The FBR has so far collected Rs 97 billion as taxes from around 55,225 declarants. An additional $40 million have been repatriated to Pakistan from the foreign accounts as well.
