New car buyers, shopping malls builders data be used to broaden tax base: RTO committee advised

Legal experts have suggested to the Tax Advisory Committee of the Regional Tax Office (RTO), Rawalpindi, to effectively utilise data of newly purchased cars and hundreds of new shopping malls and business establishments to bring non-filers of income tax returns into the tax net.
The issue was raised by Muhammad Idrees, President of Rawalpindi Tax Bar Association (RTBA) during the first meeting of Tax Advisory Committee of RTO, Rawalpindi. The RTBA president informed the committee that the provincial Excise and Taxation Department had recently submitted data of 35,000 new cars registered with the excise authorities.
According to an estimate, 500-600 notices were served to the owners of these vehicles and a few hundred persons responded. The latest data could be utilised for bringing maximum persons into the tax net, he said.
Another thing, he said, was that businessmen had built hundreds of new shopping malls in Rawalpindi. The business of chain stores has flourished in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. This information could play a key role in broadening the tax base, he added.
The regional tax department could verify the data of income tax returns filed during last few years. The data, excluding salary returns, could be utilised to bring potential taxpayers into the tax net, Idrees said.
Meanwhile, RTO Tax Advisory Committee has asked the corporate sector and representatives of trade bodies and associations to ensure filing of income tax return for the 'tax year 2007' bringing maximum persons into the tax net.
The meeting of the committee was held at RTO Rawalpindi, and was chaired by Rawalpindi RTO Director-General Iqbal Muzaffar and was attended by representatives of trade bodies of Rawalpindi and Jhelum, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (RCCI), Tax Bar Association Rawalpindi and Attock, Income Tax and Sales Tax Authorities, Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited, Attock Oil Company Ltd, Pakistan Tobacco Company and PP&A Directorate.
The RTO D G and Nasirud Din Mehboob, Collector of Sales Tax, gave presentations to the committee which were followed by discussion on filing of return for tax year 2007 and broadening of tax base.
The members of the committee raised queries, which were promptly answered by FBR Members income tax and sales tax. However, certain unresolved issues were promised to be forwarded to the FBR for clarification.
The members of the committee were urged to file their returns well in time and to convince the people around them to pay their due taxes and file their returns by stipulated date ie September 30.