Taxpayers showing 32 percent increase in income to be spared from audit: IR

Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue (IR) Muhammad Tariq has said that income tax clause of 214D has been converted into 214E under amended finance Bill of 2018-19, providing an opportunity to the tax payers to show 32 percent enhancement in their taxable income to avoid audit of their accounts.
While addressing an awareness session in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he told that 1.2 million cases were picked for audit which is practically impossible within the given circumstances. Hence, this new clause has been added as the income tax returns will be accepted without any condition of audit if the tax payers will enhance their taxable income up to 32 percent. He told that a software has been developed and people could avail this online opportunity up to December 31 this year.
He further told that earlier there were no proper system for income tax audit but now it has been decided that audit will be allowed only after 3 years of previous audit.
Responding to question about high rate of taxation, he said that business community thinks that it should be linked with growth rate which is only 5.6 percent but the policy makers add 6 percent inflation in addition to under tax and under declaration cases to fix the new recovery targets.
About extension in tax amnesty scheme, he told that government is not in a mood to further extend this scheme as it has already detected many cases in which people have stashed their assets abroad amounting to millions of dollars. "Government want that such persons should not be allowed to avail this facility anymore," he added.
About sales tax refund cases, he told that refund cases up to Rs 1 Lac would be paid at the RTO level while refund with huge amount would be released subject to the decision by government. He said that no doubt government is also interested in clearing the pending refund claims as it might become a permanent sore point like circular debt.
About extension in filing tax returns, he told that decision in this regard could be made in light of pending cases within the prescribed date. Responding to a question about expending tax net instead of tightening noose around the neck of existing taxpayers, he said that taxpayers are ready to pay tax. Similarly tax collectors are also serious to collect tax but the "bone of contention" is exact amount of payable tax which could be determined in accordance to the given law.
About Benami Bank accounts, he said that it has become impossible to open a Benami account under the present laws. "However, the accounts already opened will remain problematic for some time," he added. He said that action will also be initiated against the concerned bank in case of the identification of any Benami account.
Earlier Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain President FCCI told that FCCI is serving the business community of Faisalabad for the last 44 years. He told that he has given a vision of triple "E" which encompasses Economy, Export and Education.
He was appreciative of government's efforts and told that exports have recorded an upsurge of 3.5 percent during last 4 months; however, increase in export of garments is more than 15 percent which should be maintained by extending more facilitation to the value added textile sector. He pointed out that exports of spinning sector have declined due to the sharp decline in cotton production within the country. He said that we have to import cotton worth Rs 1 billion to feed our spinning sector.
Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain told that our final growth rate is 4 percent but tax rate has been fixed at 15 percent which is highly objectionable. He stressed the need to expand tax base instead of concentrating on the existing taxpayers. He also mentioned pending refund claims of Rs 250 billion. He demanded immediate payment of refund claims so that people could expand their businesses and in this way government will also get the additional tax revenue. A question answer session was also held. Later Former President Ashfaq Ahmed sheikh presented FCCI shield to Muhammad Tariq Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue while SVP Mian Tanveer Ahmed offered vote of thanks.