KARACHI: The trade and industry has criticised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for launching an e-filing system without verifying its shortcomings which are creating hurdles in filing of income tax and wealth statements for the tax year 2013-14.

Industry representatives pointed out a number of issues in the new e-filing software, Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), saying that it was impossible for taxpayers to meet the Nov 21 deadline.

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Zakaria Usman said that repeated reminders about these hardships had been landed on deaf ears.

If the government acted in such a callous way, no one else would be responsible for hindering in the way of developing tax culture in the country, he said. The country’s tax-to-GDP ratio has already slipped to 8.5 per cent from a little over 9pc, he added.

He said the FBR seemed uninterested in resolving issues in the e-filing system because up to 80pc of the revenue budget is collected through withholding tax regime.

Shabir Ahmed, chairman of Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA), said that the FBR had already extended the deadline three times but flaws still persisted.

If FBR high-ups and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar were not keen to collect revenue from taxpayers, why people should bother meeting this legal and moral responsibility, he questioned.

Towel Manufacturers Association’s Chairman Waqar Alam criticised the FBR for introducing the IRIS software without consulting stakeholders.

The IRIS system did not even give the option of bringing forward last year’s credit, and the option of realising advance tax was also not working, he said, and urged the FBR to further extend the deadline.

Published in Dawn, November 20th , 2014