The deadline for the amnesty scheme should be extended to July 9 and the tax base should be broadened instead of burdening the existing taxpayers. Taxpayers should avail the amnesty scheme offered by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by waiving penalties and surcharges on all overdue taxes.
Amnesty scheme’s deadline of June 30, 2011 to deposit principal amounts should be extend up to July 9, 2011, said Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) President Mohammad Saeed Shafiq in a statement on Monday. He said that it was difficult for the business and trade community to deposit the principal amount on such a short notice. He recommended the Finance Minister, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh to extend the date up to July 9, which would help FBR to collect the proposed tax collection target of Rs1952 billion in a better way, since it is almost 23 per cent higher as compared to the previous year’s target of Rs1588 billion.
He said that under prevailing conditions of law and order, power and energy shortages, negative economic indicators, flight of capital, high cost of doing business and interest rates and an optimistic 2-4 per cent projection of GDP growth, FBR needs to take extraordinary steps focused not only on revenue generation but also on an improved system of collection and administrative reforms that create a sense of fairness and equity in the tax regime across all sectors. He mentioned that amnesty schemes could be useful for documentation of the economy.