Regional Tax Office (RTO) has received some 522,950 income tax returns, depicting 12 percent growth as compared to 467,356 returns filed last year. According to statistic, made available to Business Recorder on Wednesday, sources said the department has collected Rs 1289.55 million in this connection, showing 121 percent growth as compared to last year collection of Rs 582.586 million.
Some 77374 returns have been filed by non-salaried class while the RTO, Karachi has received around 14115 returns on account of salaried persons. Talking to Business Recorder, Imtiaz Ahmed Barakzai, Director General of RTO said the noticeable growth was witnessed in the number of returns in current year. Therefore, it is being expected that RTO, Karachi will achieve over 0.8 million target till the end of ongoing year.
He said the department has accelerated the efforts to broaden tax base to achieve the current revenue collection mark. Furthermore, he said that RTO, Karachi has established about 49 Tax Facilitation Kiosks (TFKs) at prominent business hubs across the city and two mobile Tax Facilitation Units (TFUs) are also facilitating taxpayers at their doorstep.
He added that the RTO is going to organise seminars, workshops and corner meetings at important business centers to achieve the assigned target of over 0.8 million returns. The main purpose behind this move is to improve the tax-to-GDP ratio which is currently below the required standards, he said and added that extensive efforts are under way to motivate taxpayers to file annual tax returns and pay their due.