2.19 million income tax returns received so far: FBR

ISLAMABAD  –  The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Saturday claimed that it had received 2.19 million income tax returns so far.

The FBR has stated that the taxpayers’, who filed income tax returns till 8th December, 2020 were 1.78 million. That number has further increased to 2.19 million with the addition of 377,766 more returns filed from 9th December till now. Income tax paid during filing of returns stood at Rs. 31 billion. 

The number of income tax returns for previous year till the same period was 1.98 million and the tax paid was Rs. 16 billion. This year, there is twofold increase in income tax paid with the annual returns.

Despite a reduction in the number of income tax return filers for tax year 2020 that ended on June 30, the government had not granted any further extension in the last date for filing returns. The government had decided not to extend the final date of 8th December 2020 with a view to restore the credibility and predictability of the final date, and to promote tax discipline. However, to ensure that no hardship was faced by taxpayers, a number of special measures were adopted.

These include liberal acceptance of requests for extension in filing date as available under the law, provision to file requests manually besides the online facility, enabling tax practitioners/advisors to file a single request for multiple clients; and enabling the chief commissioners to set up special desks for collection of manual request and sorting their jurisdiction at their level.

The measures have encouraged a large number of taxpayers to file extension requests which are being granted. It is estimated that at least 300,000 taxpayers have made use of this facility, thus, taking the number of potential returns to 2.1 million, which is 21 percent higher compared to last year until this date. The FBR stated that the FBR has received record number of returns along with highest ever amount of income tax at the time of filing.

In tax year 2019, the FBR had received a total of 2.96 million income tax returns. The government had not extended the deadline despite the fact that business community demanded extention. The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) had approached Prime Minister Imran Khan for the grant of extension till February 15, 2021. 

It said huge returns were pending for submission due to certain discrepancies while filling the returns, political situation and above all the Covid-19 all over the country.