—Sources say large number of civil servants, including secretaries, do not pay income tax
—Among 52 officers of grades 18-19, only 17 file income tax returns regularly
ISLAMABAD: The top bureaucrats of Pakistan are refusing to file their income tax returns despite strict instructions from Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to government officials in this regard, it has been reliably learned.
Sources said that a large number of civil servants, including secretaries, were not filing their tax returns even though they were earning taxable income.
According to available data, the Industry and Production Secretary (Incharge) Main Asad Hayaud Din, Petroleum Division Secretary Muhammad Jalal Sikandar Sultan, Power Division Secretary Yousaf Nassem Khokhar, Planning Commission Secretary Shoaib Ahmad Siddique, Economic Affairs Division Secretary (Incharge) Ghazanfar Abbas Jilani, and Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Secretary Aamir Ashraf Khawaja did not file their income tax returns in fiscal 2017.
Moreover, Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Ijaz Munir, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Director General Irfan Naeem Mangi, and Bashir Ahmed Memon had also not filed their income tax returns in this year.
The situation was even worse among grades 18 and 19 junior officers who were also not filing their income tax returns. According to sources, out of 52 junior officials of the Commerce Division, only 17 were regularly filing their income tax returns.
Earlier in December, the prime minister had ordered all secretaries of the respective ministries/divisions to issue directions to all officers working in different ministries/divisions to ensure that every person who was earning taxable income must file his/her income tax return.
“The secretaries may consider the application of measures, such as linking filing of returns with rewards for their employees if initial directions do not yield results,” the letter read.
Furthermore, the prime minister had directed all the ministries and divisions to submit a report on this particular issue to the PM Secretariat, as well as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on a monthly basis. According to the order, the first report should have been submitted by January 15. Afterward, the FBR had also started compiling data of all civil servants who were dodging the tax net.
In addition, the board had been struggling to bring all personnel of the armed forces into the tax net. According to data, around 65,000 to 70,000 tax filers were registered at the FBR’s Rawalpindi office. The tax officials believed that they would be able to find around 70,000 to 100,000 new taxpayers during the current year.
Meanwhile, officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the International Monetary fund (IMF) in its report showed concern over the inaction of the relevant Pakistani authorities to increase the number of taxpayers in the country. This was an important reason behind the prime minister’s directive issued in connection to tax collection.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Active Taxpayers List for 2017 showed that 1.261 million taxpayers filed returns as compared to 1.391 million in 2016. Interestingly, around 131,258 people and companies that were earlier in the tax net, were not active taxpayers anymore.
While talking to Pakistan Today, the FBR spokesperson said that the income tax law bounds the government and citizens to file tax if their earning was more than Rs 0.4 million. The department had been compiling the data of those government officials who were not filing tax returns, he added.
