FBR to focus on manufacturing, services

Source: The News Daily

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=65230

By Mehtab HaiderISLAMABAD: The Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Abdullah Yousaf has tasked the tax authorities with identifying potential taxpayers in the manufacturing and services sectors in order to achieve the ambitious tax collection target of Rs1.025 trillion during the current fiscal.“During a recently-concluded conference, tax authorities were tasked to find out potential taxpayers from two crucial sectors - manufacturing and services,” an FBR official told The News on Friday.Currently, out of a population of 160 million, there are only 1.8 million taxpayers and tax authorities view this number as dismal. The FBR, therefore, envisages an increase in tax return filers by 20 per cent during the current fiscal year.For achieving this increase in taxpayers’ numbers, the government needs to launch a vigorous campaign to bring a vast majority of non-filers into the tax net.The FBR achieved a record growth of 47 per cent in direct tax collection in fiscal year 2006-07 compared to the year 2005-06, mainly contributed by corporate tax and withholding tax.It may be noted that sector-wise studies are being conducted for the purpose of plugging leakages and to lessen tax evasion. Special attention is being paid to identifying these potential areas which still remain out of the reach of the tax net.It is pertinent to mention that direct taxes helped the FBR make up for the shortfall in other sectors during the last financial year.The shortfall in collection of customs’ duties and sales tax was mainly blamed on a fall in dutiable imports, which dropped by 4.1 per cent against projected growth of 15 per cent.