ALTHOUGH the submission of tax returns is the duty of every eligible citizen, the constantly changing deadlines announced by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) seem to make this an exercise in futility.

In 2014, the first deadline given for filing of income tax returns was September 30. This was extended to Oct 31, which was again revised to Nov22 and now it has been extended to Dec 5.

One fails to understand why the government has repeatedly extended the filing of tax returns deadline, and what benefit it has achieved.

Then there is the matter of the FBR spending millions of rupees on advertisements appearing in newspapers as a reminder of the deadline. If the date is being revised repeatedly, a huge amount of public money spent on advertisements goes in vain.

The FBR is requested to plan strategically in this regard.

Mansoor Ahmed
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2014