FBR to issue 16,000 notices to non-compliant salaried persons

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will send 16,000 notices to salaried persons, who have taxable income but are not filing their annual income tax returns.

The issuance of notices was part of the FBR’s mega drive to broaden the tax base, sources at the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Karachi said on Saturday.

The strategy was finalised during the recent visit of the FBR chairman to Karachi, sources said, adding that the non-compliant salaried persons were detected through data obtained from the private sector and government organisations.

The BTB wing of the FBR based in RTO Karachi worked extensively to identify the non-compliant salaried individuals, who were not filing their income tax returns.

Sources said the BTB had obtained details of expenses made by such salaried persons, which did not match with their income.

The tax office believed that such salaried persons had either other sources of income or illegal sources of income.

Sources said that under the new strategy, it was also decided to take harsh action against traders, who were opening businesses at newly constructed shopping plazas and markets.

The tax officers have been asked to focus on those shops where huge inventories were found.

“It was discussed at length that black money was also flowing to such newly established shops,” the sources informed.

The officers had been directed to question about the source of investment for the purchase of such inventory and bring those people into the tax net, if not registered. The FBR has further decided to conduct surveys of existing markets for potential revenue collection.

In this connection the FBR officials would conduct surveys in several markets across the city, including Zamzama, Hydri, Khada Market, and Commercial area of DHA.

One of the interesting aspects is that the officials in the latest drive will question operators of chai corners (prepared tea stalls) about their tax status and source of investment.

The FBR sources said that tea stalls were mushrooming in the city and paying a huge amount as rent.

The BTB wing also identified 2,000 transactions of immovable properties where buyers paid millions of rupees to acquire the property.

The sources said that on such transactions, the purchasers had misdeclared the amount, and paid withholding tax on the FBR valuation.

The BTB wing would issue notices to such purchasers to explain the source of their income, and also explain about the undeclared amount that was used for purchasing the property.