LAHORE: The Inland Revenue Services (IRS) Lahore has collected over 2 million income tax returns so far and more are expected before the end of deadline of October 15, 2021.

The IRS Lahore consisted of Large Taxpayer Office (LTO), Regional Tax Office (RTO) and Corporate Tax Office (CTO).

According to reliable sources, the LTO has so far collected approximately 1.3 million returns while it has a target of 2.6 million. They said the momentum of filing of returns was slow until the last week of September due to overloading of online system for accepting returns. Accordingly, said the sources, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had no option but to extend the deadline.

It may be noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan had congratulated the nation over 38-percent increase in number of returns against the last tax year. The LTOs are considered to be major contributors in receiving returns throughout Pakistan, collecting 70 percent of the returns.

The RTO Lahore stood second on the ladder after receiving around 900,000 returns so far. This number was merely 400,000 on the 30th of September due to the stuck-ups online system. The RTO deals with taxpayers relating to the category of Association of Persons and individuals.

Meanwhile, the sources added, that the CTO Lahore has received over 10,000 returns so far which deals with non-corporate taxpayers. The sources from the LTO pointed out that the Board has also directed them to assess large taxpayers on the basis of audit paras in audit reports. They apprehended that this exercise would make their work cumbersome, as the audit objections do not match with the actual situation on ground.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021