Salaried class tops the list: taxpayers unlikely to meet tax return deadline

In view of the grave political crisis, taxpayers, especially salaried class may not be able to meet the deadline for filing of statements required under section 165 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
Talking to Business Recorder, Rehan Jafferi, General Secretary, Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) said although the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had extended the date for filing of income tax return and wealth statement for Tax Year 2014 from August 31 to September 30, no decision was so far made to facilitate taxpayers especially from salaried class in filing of statements required under section 165 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
He said that PTBA had earlier urged the board to publish and finalise income tax return forms as early as possible to enable taxpayers to file tax return on time. However, the FBR, after a lapse of almost two months of current fiscal year, failed to finalise tax returns.
He said as per section 165 of the Act, salaried taxpayers were required to file statements by the end of August. However, salaried taxpayers are unable to file statements amid current political turmoil as the web-portal is not working properly and the PRAL is helpless in resolving the issue. Jafferi requested the board to extend the date for filing of statements required under section 165 of the Act to facilitate taxpayers at maximum.