The analysis of income tax returns filed by candidates contesting May 11 elections revealed that over 90 percent of the candidates have not paid tax, paid nominal tax or adjusted their tax liabilities after payment of meaner amount. Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that the FBR's Central Verification Cell had analysed the trends in filing of income tax returns by the contesting candidates.
The analysis has been done on the basis of tax declarations made in the nomination papers and income tax returns by the candidates. The analysis revealed that over 90 percent of the candidates have not paid any tax or paid nominal tax. In other cases, the deducted taxes at different stages have been adjusted in the income tax returns. Generally, techniques have been used to pay minimum amount of tax reflected in the income tax returns by the candidates.
The analysis of returns further disclosed that majority of them have not filed the mandatory wealth statements required under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. Many candidates have manually filed income tax returns instead of using electronic option. The returns have been manually filed in haste.
Distortions are visible in the manually field income tax returns and problems faced during data entry or data coding of such returns. The FBR's Central Verification Cell has thanked all Large Taxpayer Units and Regional Tax Offices for co-operating in the verification exercise across the country. One of the astonishing aspects of the exercise is that 40-45 percent of the candidates are non-taxpayers having no National Tax Numbers (NTNs), sources added.