FBR moves to broaden tax base, aims to add 2m retailers in tax net 

FBR gears up to broaden the tax base following a 10 year economic roadmap discussed at the National Security council

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) started a new exercise of broadening the tax base. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Tariq Pasha visited the Regional Tax Officers (RTO) of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and assigned specific targets of tax collection.

This came in light after the National Security Council (NSC) discussed the economic roadmap for 10 years and stressed on the need to broaden the tax base. The FBR faced a shortfall of Rs225 billion for achieving the desired target for December 2022, as the tax collection stood at Rs 740 billion against the fixed target of Rs 965 billion. 

The federal government prefers to impose a 1-3% flood levy, a tax revenue collected separately from the Federal Divisible Pool (FDP) by the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. Profit reached out to SAPM Tariq Pasha regarding developments on this but no response has been received yet. 

Similarly, the RTOs in Islamabad have started visiting posh sectors in the city and ensure retailers and small shopkeepers are complying with tax duties under the FBR. This is being done with the aim to bring two million retailers under tax net through a simplified single-page tax returns. 

Under the same notification, the FBR has also prescribed a return form for the individuals and the association of persons (AoPs) having turnover of up to Rs. 50 million.

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