Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has identified as many as 76,000 non-filers including over 800 officers of BS-19 & BS 20 in Sindh government for tax year 2018. According to a letter sent to the Sindh government, Regional Tax Office (RTO) -III, Withholding Zone V has obtained data of employees working in Sindh government from A. G. Sindh's office, which shows that out of around 93,000 employees, who were earning taxable salary, only 17,000 filed income tax returns for tax year 2018.
It said that under section 114 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, employees earning taxable income were required to file their income tax returns and the compliance with provision of law was essential to enable documentation of economy.
Contrary to that, a large number of employees in Sindh government including over 800 officers from BS-19 & BS-20 are not filing income tax returns as they are of the view that there is at-source deduction of income tax on their salaries hence filing of return is not called for, it said and added that this misconception was against the provisions of law.
It said that FBR has asked the Sindh government to ensure compliance of filing of income tax return as the aforesaid employees in Sindh government had not filed returns for the tax year 2018 and they could file income tax return up to August 2, 2019 i.e. the last date announced by the board for filing of income tax returns and offered to provide facilitation/technical assistance for online filing of returns by employees of Sindh government.