ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Acting President Muhammad Naveed Malik said that in the Budget 2018-19, the outgoing government had extended the threshold for income tax up to Rs.1.2 million due to which almost 80 per cent of small taxpayers would go below the tax level in the next financial year.
However, he said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has selected many small traders through balloting for tax inquiry despite the fact that they would be exempted from tax in the next tax year.
He appealed to FBR chairman to accept the tax returns of selected small traders. He was talking to a delegation of Traders Welfare Association, G-13, Islamabad that visited ICCI led by its President Abid Hussain and Secretary Rana Altaf Hussain. ICCI Vice President Nisar Mirza, Iftikhar Sethi, Khalid Chaudhry and others were also present at the occasion.
Muhammad Naveed Malik said that the small traders were worried due to income tax issues as it was difficult for them to maintain account books. He said that the outgoing government had taken a bold step by introducing tax amnesty scheme and increasing the threshold of income tax from 0.4 million to 1.2 million due to which small traders and businessmen are now exempt from taxes.
He, however, added that it was not wise to embarrass small traders by selecting them for tax inquiries and the finance minister should take notice of this situation and tax returns of small traders should be accepted as is.
