Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar said the Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme 2016 must not fail and he ordered RTOs to conduct press conferences and persuade non-filers to file their returns.
Haroon Akhtar was addressing journalists, officers and staff at FBR Headquarters after inaugurating operations room for the amnesty scheme launched to raise the tax compliance in the country.
The scheme was officially notified on February 1, 2016, and can be benefited by those traders and businessmen who have returned at least one or more yearly returns. Those who avail the scheme won’t be audited for four years. The traders will also benefit hugely as they will be free from paying withholding tax.
The amnesty scheme offers many incentives to traders and businessmen alike. The hawks from different segments attack it as a machination ordained to whitewash the ill-gotten wealth. The apologists opine that it will broaden the tax net for all times to come and will contribute significantly in revenue generation.
Akhtar said that RTOs must lay emphasis on the four-year exemption of any kind. The FBR won’t interfere at all, he said. Akhtar also told that a campaign must be built in order to get the message across. Haroon Akhtar Khan also instructed the staff at the control room to keep close liaison with the field formations and work diligently to address any issue hampering a smooth implementation of the scheme. He expected a large number of traders of the country to be benefiting from the scheme because of the incentives and advantages it offered them for documenting their businesses. He also asked the operations wing to instruct all regional tax offices and field formations to hold regular meeting with the representatives of All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajraan and the local tax bar associations. “Such meetings should be held within the next two days so that an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence can be built to make the scheme successful,” he said. Similar meetings with local media-persons should also be arranged to create a feel-good factor and apprise them of the salient features of the scheme, he said. “By 29th February, our performance will be judged by all concerned quarters,” he added.
The FBR has set its target around 1 million returns from across the country. The strategy in place takes account of population, area and potential. Educating and facilitating the traders, advertising the campaign on both print and electronic media and on-spot facilitation throughout the project are the monitoring mechanisms in place. Markets have been identified by the local RTOs concerned. The focal persons have also been appointed by RTOs for major markets and ‘mufassil’ areas.
Out of the total population of 119,834,514 that dwells in the major cities of Pakistan, the target is 10,00,000 who are expected to opt for the scheme. The return form is a single page document and the hassle associated with the filing of tax return has been banished once and for all.
The FBR will make use of all mediums necessary to spread the message to every nook and corner of country. The focal persons and sub-focal persons for each market place have been appointed along with support teams by respective RTOs. The kiosks will be set up in the marketplace for collection, guidance and advertisement. The RTO teams will meet with the representatives of trade bodies and traders to improve the outreach.
