The Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), has dispatched additional information of over 17,000 Karachi-based high-profile persons to the relevant Regional Tax Offices for bringing these undocumented persons into the formal tax regime.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the agency has dispatched the latest profiles of 17,000 rich persons, who have been engaged in earning huge income, but prefer to remain out of the tax net. These include owners of property, accountholders, frequent travellers abroad, with their families, and purchasers of luxurious vehicles, etc. The directorate has been systematically dispatching information to the field formations to ensure documentation of wealthy persons.
The FBR has accessed the immigration record and Nadra family tree of wealthy persons to check their income and expenditures. Karachi being the major business hub of the country, the directorate has collected ample data which would also be dispatched to the field formations. The whole exercise is being closely monitored to ensure that each and every undocumented person is brought into the formal regime.
According to sources, these 17,000 persons of Karachi are enjoying luxurious life, but are still not on the tax roll of the tax department. In the next phase, profiles of thousands of more persons would be dispatched to the concerned authorities in Karachi. It is expected that the tax department would issue provisional assessment orders against these 17,000 undocumented persons. In case the wealthy persons timely file their income tax returns in response to notices, the provisional assessment orders would automatically be cancelled.
Sources said that the directorate has provided opportunity to the undocumented persons to explain their sources of income before issuing provisional assessment orders under section 122 (c) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. The idea is to give maximum opportunity to the concerned persons to voluntarily file their income tax returns to avoid huge amount of penalty and prosecution. The FBR also ask the concerned persons to explain their sources of income to ensure filing of returns and wealth statements.
With limited staff and resources at the Broadening of Tax Base (BDB) Units, the directorate has shown remarkable performance and issued 1100 provisional assessment orders and the number would be doubled by the end of current month. A total of 20-25 officers of the BDB Units are engaged in the verification of the FBR''s data and engaged in the process of issuance of notices as admissible under the law. The whole exercise has been launched during last few months and profiles of thousands of undocumented persons have been communicated to the field formations.
Shahid Hussain Asad Director General, Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue has focused on big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot and others to document the rich class, which is still out of the tax net. The national database of the agency has been updated on regular basis taking into account the information collected from the field formations. The creation of the new directorate has focused on major cases across the country to ensure documentation of maximum persons by June 30, 2011.
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