ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) received more than a million tax returns in the tax year 2015, Member Facilitation and Taxpayers Education (FATE) Shaista Abbas said on Wednesday.

The figure had stagnated at around 800,000 in the past few years.

Talking to the participants of the 21st Mid-Career Management Course from the National Institute of Management Quetta during their visit to the FBR House, Ms Abbas said: “Our efforts to broaden tax base are bearing fruit this year, too, as FBR’s revenue collection rose 19pc to Rs2.103tr during the first three quarters of this fiscal year.”

She said the FBR has also increased the cost of doing business for non-filers, besides converting computerised national identity card (CNIC) numbers into national tax numbers (NTNs) to track down potential taxpayers through their routine financial transactions.

To a query, she said the FBR has formulated a strategy to go after tax evaders by using information obtained from their transactions in the real estate sector, purchase of vehicles, foreign travels and also by accessing, in the long run, their bank accounts to assess the extent of tax avoidance and tax evasion.

Tehmina Aamer, Chief Member FATE, gave a detailed presentation on the working and performance of the FBR in broadening the tax net and raising the tax-to-GDP ratio. She also shared with the officers various loopholes and weaknesses in the current taxation system and what measures were required to improve the system.

She argued that compliant taxpayers, independent tax authority, simplified tax laws and procedures and a vibrant tax machinery were essential for a robust taxation system. Moreover, a fair tax system should impose similar tax burdens on similarly situated individuals while burden should also be proportional to an individual’s ability to pay tax, she added.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2016