FBR to issue notices with ‘bar code’ to taxpayers: chairman

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Bajwa has said that the FBR has decided to adopt a leak-proof computerised system in order to stop issuing fake notices to taxpayers during the new financial year. He said that with the grace of Allah Almighty, on Tuesday night the FBR had achieved over 99 percent revenue target of financial year 2014-15 and it would further increase in the next few days.
During an interview with The News, he said that from July 2015, all the notices about tax would be sent through the computerised system. He said that ‘bar code’ and ‘unique identification number’ would be mentioned under the notice and in this way fraudsters and other black sheep of the tax department would not be able to blackmail taxpayers. He advised the taxpayers to check their notices on the FBR’s website whenever they receive notices.
Tariq Bajwa said that it was a great work of the FBR team to meet the difficult revenue target of the financial year 2014-15. He said that the FBR had brought thousands of new taxpayers into the tax net. He said that in 2013 the number of taxpayers was 700,000 but on June 2015 this number had increased to over 900,000.
To a question on the SROs, the FBR chairman said the FBR could not issue an exemption on SROs but administrative SROs would be issued.
On the question that the number of taxpayers would be increased through strictness, he said every bank branch would be bound to recover .06 percent adjustable withholding tax, advance tax from those who carried out over Rs50,000 funds who is and is not a terrorist or terrorist organisation in the eyes of the law. And Zaid Hamid has been arrested and convicted by the Saudi authorities under the same legislation. To be specific, informed diplomatic circles in Islamabad say, Zaid has been charged under Article 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11 of the new Saudi laws promulgated in April 2014.
According to Article 2: “Anyone who throws away their loyalty to the country’s rulers, or who swears allegiance to any party, organisation, current [of thought], group, or individual inside or outside the Kingdom.” Article 4 states: “Anyone who aids terrorist groups, currents [of thought], associations, or parties, or demonstrates affiliation with them, or sympathy with them, or promotes them, or holds meetings under their umbrella, either inside or outside the kingdom; this includes participation in audio, written, or visual media; social media in its audio, written, or visual forms; internet websites; or circulating their contents in any form.”
According to Article of the Saudi laws: “Contact or correspondence with any groups, currents [of thought], or individuals hostile to the kingdom.” Article 8 states: “Seeking to shake the social fabric or national cohesion, or calling, participating, promoting, or inciting sit-ins, protests, meetings, or group statements in any form, or anyone who harms the unity or stability of the kingdom by any means.” According to Article 9: “Attending conferences, seminars, or meetings inside or outside the Kingdom targeting the security of society, or sowing discord in society.” And last but not the least, Article 11 states: “Inciting or making countries, committees, or international organisations antagonistic to the kingdom.”
Zaid has been often criticised for his controversial views, which have been slammed as conspiracy theories. He has been accused by his detractors of promoting hate speech. He had established himself as a contentious commentator when he started taking part in a Pakistani TV show - Brasstacks. His father Lt Col. Zaman Hamid (R) had served in the Pakistan Army while Zaid had received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the NED University, Karachi. Zaid is no stranger to controversy, with his comments on social media platforms and TV talk shows often inviting the ire of Pakistani liberals and the civil society, whom he dismisses as “agents” of the enemy state. Zaid is well known for his anti-India tirade.
Shortly before his arrest in Saudi Arabia, he had endorsed the alleged policy of the Pakistani intelligence establishment to use spy pigeons against India in response to the Cold Start Doctrine of the Indian Army. He had made this statement after the Indian police arrested a pigeon, which it alleged was a Pakistani spy. Although the Pakistani authorities had refuted the allegation, Zaid said that due to its resemblance with Allama Iqbal’s Shaheen, the pigeon has symbolic importance in neutralising the effects of the cultural war being waged by India against Pakistan. He added that pigeons would play a central role in Ghazva-e-Hind. He used to bring himself in limelight by using conspiracy as a tool, which has eventually landed him in a Saudi prison.
A resident of the Chaklala Scheme-3 in the Cantt area of Rawalpindi, Zaid Hamid was equally critical of the Sharif government and had been demanding of the establishment to overthrow the civilian set up. At a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on November 20, 2013, a former follower and employee of Zaid Hamid [Immad Khalid] had accused him of plotting to assassinate the then Army Chief General Kayani and instigating a revolt in the armed forces through emails he sent to thousands of officers. He said his former boss had compiled a ‘hit list’, including the names of the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and others from the media and the judiciary. But Zaid had strongly refuted the allegation.