‘FBR focuses on new taxpayers’

ISLAMABAD: Government is now focusing to find new taxpayers instead of burdening the existing ones to broaden the tax base, a senior official said on Thursday.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Khan, in a meeting with business community, said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been making concerted efforts to broaden tax base.

“All our energies are now concentrated on finding new taxpayers through an extensive taxpayer outreach programme which has helped us get a significant number of additional taxpayers till now as compared to the corresponding period last year,” Khan said in a statement.

“The government deeply values the taxpayers and the contribution they made to the revenue generation and resource mobilisation efforts of Federal Board of Revenue in recent years.” The PM advisor said Federal Board of Revenue registered 73 percent revenue growth during the last four years.

The Federal Board of Revenue decided to go after the non-filers and three zones have been set up in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to broaden the tax base and get more taxpayers in the tax net. “We hope this year we would be able to get significantly more tax filers,” he added.

The government released Rs40 billion in tax refunds during the first four months of the current fiscal year as against Rs26 billion a year earlier, “which reflects its commitment to facilitating the business community.”

Khan said Federal Board of Revenue directed its field departments “to treat taxpayers with due respect and attention and any incident involving intimidation or harassment of taxpayers would not be brooked.”

Meanwhile, the PM special assistant also held a meeting with a delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association at the FBR House. He assured them the government support to resolve their issues.