ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue detected a case of short deduction of tax worth Rs1293.228 million by the telecom companies under the jurisdiction of Large Taxpayer Unit Islamabad.
Sources told Customs Today that FBR high-ups took serious notice of this lapse by the Large Taxpayer Unit. Federal Board of Revenue has directed Large Taxpayer Unit to hold inquiry and fix responsibility against the person at fault and also submit the report with documentary evidence on case to case bases.
According to details, two telecom companies under the jurisdiction of Large Taxpayers Unit Islamabad failed to deduct due amount of income tax from payments made on account of salary and benefits to their employees as required under section 149 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 as was evident from the withholding statements filed by the mobile companies under section 165 and annual audited accounts for the last tax year.
The LTU did not take the notice of this omission. The lapse resulted in loss of government revenue amounting to Rs 1,293,227,893.
It is important to mention here that according to Section 149 (1) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, every person responsible for paying salary to an employee shall, at the time of payment, deduct tax from the amount paid at the employee’s average rate of tax computed at the rates specified in division 1 of part 1 of the first schedule on the estimated income of the employee chargeable under the head salary for the tax year in which the payment is made.