ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has decided to waive the token penalty levied on the late Income Tax returns filers.

The concession would be meted out only to those taxpayers who filed their returns after due date up to October 31, an official source told Dawn here on Friday.

Earlier, to increase the number of tax returns this year, the CBR as a special case levied a token penalty ranging from Rs50 to Rs100 per filer instead of real penalty on those taxpayers who would file their tax returns up to October 31.

According to official figures compiled by the Board till October 31, as many as 94,000 tax returns were filed by the taxpayers with the Income Tax Department across the country.

They have also deposited an amount of Rs498 million along with their tax returns during the same period.

Up to October 1, which was the last date for filing returns, taxpayers filed 0.87 million returns as against 1.05 million filed over the corresponding period last year.

Besides, the taxpayers deposited about Rs1.8 billion along with their income tax returns during the current fiscal as against the Rs2 billion deposited during the same period last year.

According to the source, the CBR has also accepted as a special case all the late income tax returns filed till October 31 for self-assessment scheme.

When asked that despite a decline in the income tax returns filed this year and the prevailing situation of the country the income tax returns date was not extended, CBR Chairman Riaz Ahmed Malik said that in fact it was a very first step towards the reforms of the tax-administration.

People developed a habit over the years that there should be certainly an extension in the filing of tax returns. But to change this culture, CBR did not extend the date for filing returns, he added.

However, the chairman said that this year as a special case the penalty on late returns may be waived but only after expiry of date.