Only 7,291 new taxpayers added to tax net till June 30: FBR enforcement action in Karachi

The level of documentation is evident from the fact that tax authorities have discovered only 7,291 new taxpayers during 2010 in Karachi - the major business hub of the country. Sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday that most of the top multinational companies, manufacturers, importers, investors and many other categories of businesses have their offices in Karachi where all kinds of business activities are taking place on a regular basis.
The enforcement actions against the business units only managed to identify merely 7,291 new persons up to June 30, 2010 not in the tax net. The figure of 7,291 new taxpayers has been communicated by the tax office of Karachi to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), reflecting poor level of compliance by the business and trade concerns.
The tax managers have found only 7,291 potential persons in Karachi despite the fact that thousands of retail outlets, wholesalers, dealers, retailers, hotels and service providers are potential taxpayers.
According to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) instructions to the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Karachi, information submitted by RTO has been examined and noticed that number of new taxpayers discovered were 7291 - whereas notices for filing of NTN application were issued in 6640 cases. The RTO should issue notices for filing of NTN application in remaining 651 cases immediately and submit report to the Board. In addition to this, in 2214 cases no notice under section 114(4) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 has been issued so far. These cases related to the non-filers of returns where notices would be served under section 114(4) to enforce filing of returns. The RTO Karachi must enforce the aforesaid provisions of law immediately and submit progress report by November 10, 2001.
The data submitted by the RTO Karachi to the FBR for the period ending on June, 30 2010 revealed that the number of businesses visited are 35,730; number of existing taxpayers are 28,439; number of new taxpayers discovered are 7,291; number of notices issued for filing of NTN application are 6640; number of NTNs allotted, 5077; number of notices issued u/s 114(4) are 5077 and number of returns filed voluntarily in response to notices u/s 114(4) are 330, RTO Karachi letter added.