ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Inland Revenue-Policy (IR-Policy) Member Shahid Hussain Asad has termed self-assessment scheme for taxpayers unsuccessful following the marginal improvement in revenue collection during the last 15 years despite offering exemptions.
Asad added that the government has been trying to offer exemptions to the traders in order to bring them into tax net but they were avoiding taking benefits from it and causing loss to the national exchequer.
Talking to Customs Today, he said that the prime minister, the finance minister and the FBR chairman are in state of confusion regarding giving exemptions to the traders in future as they are not sure whether non-filers would register themselves as filers or not after availing exemptions.
The government had announced a scheme on November 20 last year to facilitate the non-filers and it was also extended up to April 30 of this year but result were against the assumptions as only four thousand tax returns were filed during this period.
He also warned the traders using Benami bank accounts to avoid the taxes of action, saying that computerized tax notices having bar code will be issued to them instead of manual notices in order to curb the fake notices.
Asad said that the rate of house rent is higher than other parts of country in Islamabad, adding that people even receiving rent up to the taxable income are not paying taxes, adding that such tax evaders will also be brought to tax net.