At least 10,000 refund claims of salaried class, stuck up with MTU, Karachi, would be cleared before Eid, official sources said on Wednesday. They said that the Medium Taxpayers Unit (MTU) was working on the strategy which would ensure refund claims for the pending cases before Eid-ul-Fitr.
They said that on the directives of Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Chairman, the unit had chalked out a plan to issue over 10,000 refunds of salaried class of 2006-07 on war footing. The refunds would be delivered to the claimants before Eid-ul-Fitr, they added.
The refunds would be sent by courier services and it would be assured that the amount of refunds reaches the destinations before Eid-ul-Fitr, sources said, adding that the refund claims would be an 'Eidi' from CBR.
Since time was very short to complete the task before Eid, the staff of the unit has been given special assignments to carry out the entire programme within the stipulated time, an official of the MTU said.
The gigantic step was taken after the income tax returns registered 46.45 percent increase, he said. The MTU received 370,469 income tax returns by September 30, 2006 as compared to last year's 252,962, showing an increase of 46.45 percent. He said that in the current fiscal year, up to August 2006, the unit had collected Rs 3.156 billion, showing 25 percent increase, compared to the corresponding period last year.
He said that the tax facilitation desks (TFDs) played a vital role in enhancing the number of income tax return filers. The TFDs were established at several places of the metropolis to educate taxpayers and facilitate them in filing returns of income. The TFDs also helped the taxpayers for obtaining National Tax Numbers.