Regional Commissioner of Income Tax (RCIT) Mohammad Dawood Khan has said that target given by the government to bring 300,000 new taxpayers in the tax net has successfully been achieved.
"We are ready to achieve the next target to bring maximum taxpayers in the tax net," he said while speaking at Bilmushafa programme of Radio Pakistan here on Wednesday.
He said that Central Board of Revenue (CBR) was making efforts to bring the number of taxes to the minimum and to provide best possible facilities to the taxpayers.
Dawood Khan said that CBR was also working to introduce an effective tax collection system so that the government could receive the required taxes.
To a question, he said that CBR Chairman Abdullah Yousuf and other high officials were in the United States, adding the objective of their visit was to revamp the tax system by involving automation.
Dawood hoped that if the project was implemented the number of problems of the taxpayers would be redressed, adding that after becoming an autonomous body the CBR would be in a position to take independent decisions.
Dawood Khan said that to facilitate the taxpayers, the CBR had introduced Universal Self-assessment Scheme under which the taxpayer at the time of submission of his return, would get token stamped receipt that constituted his assessment orders.
He said that one could realise the mental agony the tax payer had to suffered in the past for collecting self-assessment orders, but now he can get this at the time of submission of his return.
He said that in the past the self-assessment scheme was linked with the conditions including amount limit but now there was no such condition. "Under the new scheme if you show losses in your return, that too would be entertained," he remarked.
He said that if the taxpayer fails to submit his return on time, an opportunity had been provided to him to submit the same after paying a nominal penalty, which was a revolutionary step by the CBR.
Regarding tax evasion, Dawood Khan said that after introduction of computerisation and involving mechanisation in assessment of the taxes that menace would be controlled.
He said that it was the apprehension that after introducing number of incentives for the taxpayers, the government might loose the recovery target but fortunately that was not the case.
Dawood said that though still some problems existed but assured that with the passage of time those would also be addressed. He pointed out that the pace of refund payments had also been expedited and the amount was also increased under a transparent mechanism.