FBR to take action against doctors for tax default

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has directed the tax offices to initiate the process of penalty and prosecution against around 175,000 doctors, who have taxable income but are not filing income tax returns, official sources said on Thursday.
Directorate General of Broadening of Tax Base (BTB) of the FBR has circulated a list of around 186,000 doctors to regional offices, directing them to take immediate action against non-filers by sending notices, an official at the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Karachi said.
The sources said that the details of doctors were obtained from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). The list includes particulars of consultants and practitioners who are independently running clinics.
Around 11,000 enlisted doctors have filed income tax return for the tax year 2014, while the remaining have been declared defaulters.
Under Section 114 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, the registered doctors with PMDC are required to file income tax returns. The RTOs were also asked to send a final report regarding the issuance of notices, compliance and demand created for revenue collection by January 31.
The sources said that the enlisted doctors had not been filing income tax returns for the past many years and the tax authorities had estimated a huge revenue amount from them.
The sources said that BTB directorate had also obtained data of lawyers/advocates, architects/engineers and fashion designers through third party information and issued the same directions to the RTOs.
Besides, the information of big dealers of birds/pets and vinyl tile has also been gathered to bring them into tax net.
Recently, the BTB obtained data of vehicles purchased from car manufacturers/assemblers. Provincial authorities were asked to provide details of persons, who registered vehicles above 1,000 CC during the last three years and purchased/sold properties during the period.
Since July 2014, the FBR and its field formation have served around 219,000 notices to non-filers. The tax authorities have created tax demand of Rs18 billion in such notices.
The FBR is indenting to increase the number of income tax return filers to 1.2 million, which is 0.8 million at present.
The taxpayers have faced immense difficulties in filing returns because the filing system has been changed several times after the introduction in July 2014. The FBR is likely to introduce the return form for tax year 2015 by March.