Ten rich persons from Lahore have voluntarily deposited about Rs 27 million as tax with huge amount of declared income for tax year 2010, showing their commitment to get the country out of crisis, and confirming that the exercise of broadening of tax base, launched by Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue, has impacted the people positively.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that this is for the first time that ten persons falling within the category of individuals and Association of Persons (AOPs) have voluntarily filed their income tax returns as a deterrent of provisional assessments against other undocumented persons in Lahore. The amazing part of the story is that the agency has not sent any notice of provisional assessment under section 122 (c) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 to these rich persons, but they voluntarily filed their returns and deposited the due amount of tax in the national kitty.
The tax profiles of these persons, maintained by the directorate, showed that an individual paid tax of Rs 8,502,743 with declared income of Rs 34,010,971; individual Rs 5,251,801 tax and declared income of Rs 21,007,204; AOP Rs 2,368,061 tax and declared income of Rs 9,472,243; individual Rs 2,349,560 tax and declared income of Rs 9,398,240; individual Rs 1,903,930 tax and declared income of Rs 7,615,720; AOP Rs 1,613,121 tax and declared income of Rs 6,452,484; individual Rs 1,475,680 tax and declared income of Rs 5,902,718; AOP Rs 1,173,079 tax with declared income of Rs 4,692,315; individual Rs 1,122,193 tax and declared income of Rs 5,906,277 and an individual paid Rs 1,113,265as tax and declared Rs 4,453,058 as income in the income tax return.
The directorate is also compiling tax profiles in similar cases in other cities where rich persons have voluntarily deposited the tax and filed their income tax returns. It is a major breakthrough for the directorate, people have now started compliance following national exercise regarding documentation of the economy. Due to provisional assessments orders issued to undocumented persons across the country, it is expected that taxpayers in Karachi and other cities would also show similar kind of compliance as witnessed in Lahore.
Shahid Hussain Asad, Director General, Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue has now expanded the scope of the investigation by relying on third-party data of a number of sectors to ensure documentation of maximum persons before July 1, 2011. Despite limited workforce, the Broadening of Tax Base (BDB) Units are working under the supervision of concerned Chief Commissioners for broadening the tax base. In this regard, Shahid is personally monitoring all the BDB Units round the clock to update national database on the documented persons, reflecting Board's commitment to bring the elite class into the tax net.