Some 200 persons have agreed to disclose their unexplained investments and assets under the Investment Tax Scheme (ITS), 2008. This was stated by Ahmad Waqar, Secretary, Finance, and Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) at the inauguration ceremony of 'Tax Facilitation Kiosks' here on Tuesday.
He said that out of the 200 businessmen, who have shown interest to legalise undeclared investments and assets under ITS, 141 persons belong to Karachi. Investment tax would be payable at 2 percent of fair market value of the asset at the time of declaration of all moveable or immovable, unexplained investments or assets as declared by the taxpayers under ITS, which would be valid till December 21, 2008.
Irfan Nadeem, Member, Direct Taxes, Israr Rauf, Director-General Regional Tax Office (RTO), and Imtiaz Ahmed, businessman also spoke on the occasion. They said that the main purpose behind this move was to improve the tax-to-GDP ratio which is currently below the required standards. They added that extensive efforts were underway to motivate taxpayers to file annual tax returns and pay their due taxes.
They said that about 50 Tax Facilitation Kiosks (TFK) had been established at prominent business hubs across the city, while two mobile Tax Facilitation Units (TFU) will also be made available to the taxpayers to file their returns.
They said that the Kiosks and mobile units would also deal with issuance of National Tax Numbers (NTN) and claims of refund and added that RTO would seminars, workshops and corner meetings at important business centres to achieve the assigned target of over one million returns and make it successful. They said that Kiosks have been established to facilitate taxpayers at their doorstep besides convincing them to play their due role in the growth of country's economy.