KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) rejected reports about an upcoming mini-budget and ruled out any new tax amnesty schemes due to International Monetary Fund (IMF) restrictions.
FBR Chairman Asim Ahmed made the announcement while speaking to the business community in successive meetings held at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
During the meeting, the chairman also announced that a tax reforms commission was being revived on the directions of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
Achieving November’s tax collection target would be a difficult task for the FBR because the reduction in imports had dried up, the chairman said.
Responding to the reservations of the business community, he assured of his support and said that if the industry would be closed down, it would also adversely impact Pakistan’s tax collection target.
“Tax reforms commission is also being revived and it will have representation from the business community and other stakeholders,” he added.
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Speaking of simplification of tax return filing, the FBR chairman said that a one-page tax return would be issued soon for traders, while the tax audit would now be done in four years instead of every year.
He urged the business community to file tax returns within the deadline. “Sanctity of the deadline for filing the returns should be upheld as the country is asked about the tax returns when IMF goes for the review of its programme for Pakistan,” Ahmed reminded.
Pakistan held huge potential for tax collection if the untapped sectors were also brought into the tax net, he said.
