Rehmatullah Khan Wazir, Director General Broadening Tax Base, Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad held meeting with Chief Commissioners and Commissioners of all Regional Tax Office, Karachi on Monday. The meeting was attended by Hafiz Muhammad Ali Indhar, Chief Commissioner Regional Tax Office, Karachi, Ahmed Saeed Siddiqui, Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, Regional Tax Office-Ill, Karachi and all Commissioners posted in Karachi.
The Director General Broadening Tax Base deplored that because of the lack of tax culture in the country the filing of returns is consistently decreasing and it has reached to 0.840 (M) in tax year 2013 whereas NTN holders are 3.5 (M) registered with Federal Board of Revenue. The returns filers constitute 0.30% of the population which is lowest in the region. The tax to (GDP) ratio is at present 9%, again lowest in the region. He emphasised that present concept of filers and non-filers and different rates of taxes brought in during the current fiscal year will greatly help in increasing the number of filers. He expected that through recent measures the number of filers will increase considerably in coming years.
He also highlighted the measures which will be taken by the field formation for the purpose of Broadening Tax Base and hoped if these measures are taken seriously then target set by Federal Board of Revenue will not only be achieved, but exceeded by considerable margin. In the end Indhar, Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office, Karachi thanked Wazir, Director General Broadening Tax Base Federal Board of Revenue for visiting Regional Tax Office and giving guidelines regarding Broadening efforts. Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office assured him that the target of new taxpayers set by Federal Board of Revenue will be achieved.-PR