KARACHI: Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has advised Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the last date for filing income tax return Tax Year 2017 as issued return forms are not complete.
The tax bar in a letter sent to Tariq Pasha, Chairman, FBR on Monday said that return of income/statement of final taxation was notified through SRO 819(I)/2017 dated August 17, 2017 and the same was uploaded on the Iris (for the purpose of e-filing) on Monday, August 21, 2017.
It further informed the chairman that the last date of filing the return of income and / or statement of final taxation (FTR) for salaried individuals and persons whose income/receipt falls under the final taxation is August 31, 2017.
The FBR chairman has been further informed that return of income/statement of final taxation for those taxpayers who are not required to e-file has not yet been prescribed nor notified.
This is creating undue panic amongst the bar members and the taxpayers.
The FBR has been urged to notify the return of income/statement of final taxation for these taxpayers who are required to file the same manually at the earliest.
The KTBA informed the FBR that wealth statement and wealth reconciliation statement for the tax year 2017 has not yet been prescribed and notified due to which the taxpayers would not be able to file the return of income/ or statement of final taxation electronically and / or manually.
Although the wealth statement is available on IRIS, yet the same is not notified and any taxpayer filing the same would be compelled to file the same without any legal cover.
The time prescribed under the law for manual filing/e-filing the tax return along with wealth statement for the taxpayers falling under the FTR and salaried class is two months from the end of financial year i.e. August 31 and similarly three months from the end of financial year for business individual i.e. September 30 every year.
The KTBA said that return of income/statement of final taxation (for e-filing) through notified on August 17, 2017 is still incomplete as the wealth statement has not yet been notified. “On the basis of such grounds the KTBA feels that deadline to file the returns/statement would be difficult to meet.”
The KTBA requested the FBR to prescribe and notify manual return of income/statement of final taxation and wealth statement along with wealth reconciliation statement at earliest.