'Sales tax base broadens by 15 percent in fiscal year 2006'

The number of sales tax registered persons stood at 116,686 in 2005-06, showing a growth of 15 percent against 2003-04. The CBR Year Book 2005-06 revealed that the number of registered persons have increased from 101,851 in 2003-04 to 115,702 in 2004-05. It has further enhanced to 116,686 in 2005-06.
In order to broaden the tax base, a number of steps have been taken such as allowing single exemption limit of Rs 5 million, introduction of simplified schemes for small taxpayers, and expanding scope of tax ie increase in number of services liable to tax. Similarly, legislation to allow presumptive taxation together with improving registration procedures to ensure a more compliant response for new business.
Moreover, an 'outreach' program, in collaboration with trade associations, to educate businessmen about their tax responsibility has been developed and launched. With the help of these measures, the number of registered persons has showed an increase during the last few years.
In case of income tax, return filers, who were only one million during 2003-04, has increased to 1.23 million in 2004-05 and now in 2005-06, the number of filers has reached 1.5 million. The growth has been around 23 percent over 2004-05 and 50 percent as compared to 2003-04.