FBR Issues One Million Tax Notices

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued one million notices to registered taxpayers to enforce compliance with the tax laws.

FBR officials on Friday said that the FBR issued one million notices till June 30, 2022, in both income tax and sales tax to registered persons and entities having turnover of Rs100 million and above to enforce compliance against different sections of the tax laws.

According to the FBR, it had taken several measures to boost revenue. It said the number of income tax return filers for TY 2020 had crossed 3.0 million.

FBR has embarked on a plan to integrate all sales outlets of tier-1 retailers with FBR’s central computerized system. Furthermore, FBR has decided to implement a Track and Trace System for specified goods/ products, i.e., Tobacco, Cement, Sugar, fertilizers, and Beverages imported into or manufactured in Pakistan.

The revenue body launched a sectorial analysis of huge business concerns across the country by assessment and processing units in all field formations of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS). Sectors like cement, sugar, cotton, and tobacco remained under focus.

Legal actions (attachment of properties, arrests, and seizures) have been made against huge tax defaulters to create deterrence against tax evaders.

The FBR also took measures in the audit and accounting wing. This has been entrusted with the task of designing audit policy as an audit compliance program yearly. This current year following initiatives have been taken by the Audit & Accounting Wing:

The Audit Policy 2020 for Tax Year 2019 is under process, given the experience obtained from past audit policies. In addition, the wing also monitors audit activities carried out in the field formation throughout the year.

The FBR said this year, under DLI 6 of Pakistan Raises Revenue Program, FBR has conducted and completed 67 cases of comprehensive field audits of large taxpayers selected through the Audit Policy, 2019 for the Tax year 2018 by the risk-based selection tool and monitored by the Compliance Unit through AMIS with associated reports submitted to FBR management which the World Bank has duly verified.

The software solution is introduced to continuously monitor the audit cases with sufficient documentation and assistance to the auditors.