ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: The filing of income tax returns/statements recorded a nominal growth of 7.2 per cent to 1.171 million filed up to October 15, 2005 as against 1.092 million during the same period last year. Official figures available with Dawn showed that overall no tangible growth was recorded in the filing of income tax returns following the introduction of the Universal Self Assessment Scheme (USAS) as the Central Board of Revenue failed to initiate any audit during the last two years to unearth non-filers or those who underestimate their income.

Of the total returns, the CBR received 339,914 in lieu of employer’s statements filed on behalf of their employees during the period under review. This filing of tax returns did not involve any efforts of the income tax department.

Salary certificates filed up to October 15, 2005 declined by 60 per cent to 145,301 certificates as against 367,966 filed during the same period last year.

Moreover, independent income tax returns filed during the period under review also recorded a negative growth of 51 per cent and stood at 62,896 returns as against 128,392 returns filed during the same period last year.

Non-salary returns filed up to Oct 15, 2005 stood at 510,189 as against 491,905 returns filed during the same period last year, indicating a nominal growth of 3.71 per cent.

Similarly, the income tax returns of association of persons declined by 10.93 per cent to 21,826 during the period under review as against 24,507 returns filed during the same period last year.

The CBR received 33,993 income statements from contractors and suppliers up to Oct 15, 2005 as against 37,181 statements filed during the same period last year, showing a decline of 8.5 per cent.

While the statements filed by importers registered a growth of 19.5 per cent to 9,826 this year as against 8219 statements filed last year, exporters filed 8,967 income statements as against 8,398 statement filed last year, indicating a growth of only 6.8 per cent.

Following the introduction of one per cent income tax on retail stage of five sectors — textile, leather, carpet, sports and surgical — the CBR received 31,640 statements from retailers during the first year of the levy.

The returns received from other sources stood at 4,738 statements up to Oct 2005 as against 24,206 statements received during the same period last year, indicating a huge decline of 80.4 per cent.

This position suggests that the CBR needs to initiate an extensive audit to identify non-filers and those who understate their income as required under the USAS.