File away

The government has been encouraging people to file their tax returns for many years now. With a low literacy rate, and a highly undocumented economy, it is no surprise that the authorities concerned have not been able to achieve the desired change in the percentage of filers. Taxation in our country is still viewed as an alien concept and a large number of people do not have any knowledge about tax laws, tax filing and tax rebates. To deal with this problem, senior tax consultants from Karachi have set up a website whose aim is to simplify the tax filing process for citizens.

Filing income tax returns is a less common practice in Pakistan. It is utterly fair to penalise non-filers, but to punish them without teaching them how they can file their returns is unfair. With a close approaching deadline for the filing of income tax returns, more discussions on television, informative sessions on how to file tax returns, or online platforms to file tax return should be highlighted so that the individuals are not at a loss when they attempt to become filers.

Arshela Amir Ali ( Karachi )