ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: The income tax returns for 2000-01 have registered a negative growth of 17.14 per cent.

According to the final figures compiled by the Central Board of Revenue till October 1, which was the last date for filing tax returns, the total returns filed in the Income Tax department stood at 0.87 million as against 1.05 million filed last year.

The figures showed that about 0.11 million shortfall in the tax returns was registered in the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan including Karachi during the current financial year as compared to the last year.

Furthermore, the taxpayers deposited about Rs1.8 billion with the income tax returns during the current fiscal as against Rs2 billion deposited last year registering a negative growth of 10 per cent.

However, to increase the number of tax returns the CBR has decided to impose a token penalty instead of real penalty on those taxpayers who would file their tax returns up to October 31, said Vakil Ahmed Khan member Direct Taxes and official spokesman here on Wednesday.

The token penalty would not be more than Rs50 to 100 on each filer, he told Dawn.

The spokesman said that it would be total accumulative penalty and would not be calculated on daily basis.

He attributed the shortfall in the tax return to last date, which was not extended.

The spokesman said that now the people should avail the facility given in shape of concession in penalty for late filing of tax returns up to October 31 and should file their returns before due date.

To a question, he said that all the three sources of revenue — sales tax, central excise duty and customs — have registered negative growth in September as compared to the same period last year.

However, he claimed that under the head of direct taxes the target would be achieved as Rs9.5billion have so far been collected against the target of Rs10.2 billion set for September.

For the first time in the history of CBR the last date for filing income tax returns was not extended this year despite the repeated demands of the tax bar associations and trade bodies.