LAHORE, Oct 2: The income tax department will accept the returns of all the assesses for the year 2001-02 without any penalty till Oct 4 who had deposited their tax with the banks by the mid-night of Sept 30.

“The step has been taken to facilitate all those who could not submit their returns by the deadline despite depositing their tax amount,” Regional Commissioner Qudratullah told APP here on Wednesday.

Some 166,000 assesses submitted their income tax returns by Sept 30 this year against 164,000 last year.

“People should not feel difficulty in paying income tax even after the expiry of Sept 30 deadline; they should not be fearful of penalties as fine can be waived off in a number of cases,” he said.

“The people who were at the 100 counters set up at the Tax House were cleared by 0045 hours on the night of Sept 30,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President M. Yawar Irfan Khan expressed concern over CBR’s decision to declare the taxpayers, who failed to file their income tax returns by due date as defaulters and to impose 10 per cent of total penalty on them.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that the complex and cumbersome tax laws had made life of the taxpayers miserable.

He urged the CBR Chairman to take notice of the situation and extend the date for filing the income tax returns.