ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has rejected claims of reduction in the number of income tax returns filed for the current year as compared to the last year.
“Certain news reports and opinions appearing in the print and electronic media on the subject have pointed out that the returns received by the FBR for the current year are above one million whereas the returns received for the last tax year were above 1.2 million and hence there is a decline of around 200,000 in the number of returns received this year,” a FBR statement said.
The FBR has termed reports and opinions misleading. “It needs to be understood that there is no cut-off date for filing of income tax returns. The income tax law does provide a due date for filing of returns but the taxpayers are allowed to file their returns after the lapse of the due date and sometimes they file their returns for a tax year several years after the end of the tax year.”
“The FBR had received 1,039,291 returns as of March 9 as compared to 867,194 returns received for the tax year in 2015,” the statement said, adding that figures speak for themselves.
