KARACHI, Aug 15: The corporate taxpayers could not meet the deadline of August 15 for filing of withholding income tax statements through electronic mode because the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) website was not ready till Wednesday, tax consultants said.

As part of a facilitation drive for the corporate taxpayers, the FBR has launched electronic filing system whereby tax returns and statements due on August 15 were to be filed through the web-portal besides using e-mail.

However, the taxpayers failed to file their tax statements by August 15, the last date for filing returns for the month of July, as the FBR’s website was not ready.

The FBR had made it mandatory on corporate taxpayers to electronically file their monthly income tax returns and statements from July 1, 2007.

The FBR also published a website through which corporate taxpayers were supposed to be registered. Despite repeated attempts the taxpayers failed to get them registered as the website splashed a message which said, “We are working on getting this page ready for you.”

In order to introduce the website and electronic filing of statements by corporate taxpayers the FBR held several road shows starting from Lahore on July 7. Similarly, the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), Karachi, also held a seminar to launch the electronic filing of statements.

The FBR also allotted NTN no or CNIC no of one of the directors of a company for a link-up with the website.

All Pakistan Tax Bar Association (APTBA) President Naveed Andrabi talking to Dawn on telephone from Lahore raised a question that in any company there were several directors and at a given time they are also changed in case of long leave or death. But nobody knows whose NTN or CNIC number has been used by the FBR for the link-up purpose.

He said the entire system being introduced by FBR for electronic filing of withholding tax statements was defective and nobody was able to meet the August 15 deadline as given by the FBR for electronic filing.

“When we can’t have a link-up there was no possibility of getting registered,” he said adding the matter was taken up with Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd (Pral) but there was no reply from them.

Mr Andrabi said in case if one managed to get registered the FBR would send another form whose hard copy would have to be taken and the file would be sent back to Pral through courier service. In return the Pral will give the applicant a user number, password and a pin code.

He further said that the new return form is hardly readable as its contents are written in micro words. After up-dating the information required on this form only then corporate taxpayer would be able to file his statement.

President APTBA urged upon the FBR to either revert back to old system of filing statements till such time the website is ready or at least extend the last date because no taxpayer was able to file monthly statements through electronic mode of filing by August 15.