The government has issued notices to about 800,000 taxpayers who failed to file income tax returns before the December 8 deadline for the tax year 2020.
Contrary to past practice, top officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have made extraordinary decisions to punish taxpayers who are not only on the tax roll but have also filed regular returns in recent years, the newspaper reported. Have been submitting
These notices were issued to the taxpayers through the e-filing system IRIS.
In the first year of the government, the PTI government had achieved record returns for the tax year 2018, when the government extended the filing date from September 30, 2018 to August 9, 2019.
The deadline for the tax year 2019 was initially set for September 30, 2019, which was extended to February 28.
The PML-N and PPP governments had also extended their respective terms to at least December 31 to provide relief to the taxpayers.
The FBR received 1,882,000 statements till yesterday, compared to 1,910,000 last year.
This shows that 28,354 people did not file their returns.
The number of tax returns filed for the tax year 2019 was 2.9 million, which was received due to the extension of the deadline till February 28, 2020.
According to FBR figures, more than 300,000 taxpayers have requested an extension in filing returns before the December 8, 2020 deadline.
These individuals have been given an additional 15 days to file a return and avoid the proposed penalty.
It should be noted that the fine for non-submission of income tax returns is Rs 40,000.
FBR spokesman Nadeem Rizvi said non-filers were required to file extensions by the deadline.
He further said that in such cases, extending the date till December 24, all extension requests have been accepted.
A former FBR chairman, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Dawn that he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said that the spread of Corona virus has created extraordinary situation in Pakistan, the government should consider the problems of taxpayers who are either in isolation or taking extra care to deal with the virus.
