August 24, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 25

ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: The Regional Commissioner of Income Tax (RCIT), northern region, Islamabad, Daud Tahir said on Saturday the Universal Self Assessment Scheme (USAS) would eliminate direct contact between the income tax officials and taxpayers.

He said the new income tax returns to be filed by the taxpayers by end-September would be regarded as the tax department’s final assessment order and there would be no room for any harassment.

The RCIT said this at a meeting with a large number of traders and businessmen at the chamber to explain them the aims of USAS and the introduction of the new income tax return form from the current tax year.

He said that 95 per cent of the tax returns would be exempt from any review or assessment and the remaining five per cent would be put through a system of fair audit. He said that GP rate would be no longer used for audit.

The RCIT said that government expected 600,000 new taxpayers under the scheme, which was much simpler than the previous scheme.

Answering a query from the participants, he said that the department paid over Rs4 billion towards more than 1000 tax refunds claimed last year.

Regarding the new income tax forms, he said the form was quite simple and only asked for essential information from the taxpayers. The form was being printed in urdu also and its copies would be made available to the taxpayers in less than a week, he said.

He requested his colleagues that all pending cases of assessment must be settled before September 30 so that there were no more complaints about delay from the taxpayers.