FBR issues over 650,000 tax notices to electricity, gas consumers

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued over 650,000 notices to consumers of electricity and gas in its ongoing tax compliance campaign.

The FBR in its annual report issued on Friday said the utilisation of data obtained from the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) and gas companies has been obtained to broaden the tax base.

“More than 650,000 notices have been issued on the basis of data obtained from the distribution companies and in lieu of these notices 129,541 returns have been enforced so far,” the FBR said.

The revenue body has undertaken unprecedented enforcement measures to ensure filing of returns. Resultantly, the number of income tax return filers for the tax year 2020 crossed 3.1 million.

During the year, Tax Asaan has been launched, which provides basic verification features such as ATL, online NTN/STRN inquiry, exemption certificates and sales tax registration.

The facility for filing income tax returns for salaried class has also been included in the application.

To develop a 360 degrees view of the taxpayers, the sources to collect data such as banks, vehicles and real estate transactions have been captured and a data bank has been developed.

Based on this data bank, the notices to more than 200,000 high net-worth unregistered persons have been issued.

To ensure proper declaration of sales by retailers and to realise due revenue from them, the FBR has initiated the integration of all sales outlets of tier-1 retailers with the FBR’s central computerised system.

The system would ensure that all sales are reported in the real-time to the FBR and are duly accounted for in monthly sales tax returns of such retailers.

The scheme was initially launched for textile and leather retailers last year, which has now been made mandatory for all tier-1 retailers with effect from December 15, 2019.

The field offices have been directed to undertake surveys in their respective jurisdictions and ensure integration of all tier-1 retailers.

To prevent leakage of revenue, under-reporting of production and sales, and to ensure proper payment of federal excise duty and sales tax on the manufacture and sale of specified goods/products, the revenue board has initiated the implementation of track and trace system for specified goods/products, ie, tobacco, cement, sugar, fertiliser and beverages imported into or manufactured in Pakistan.