Rs1,000 surcharges for late tax filers

The spokesperson of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has clarified that a fine of Rs 1,000 will be charged for late tax filers, not Rs 10,000. The clarification came due to the rumours about high fine charges imposed by FBR on filing late income tax returns.

This mistake occurred because of an error in a press release issued on February 24th. According to the clarification, Rs 1,000 will be charged from individuals (salaried and non-salaried) on late filing of income tax returns for the tax year 2020 for inclusion in the Active Taxpayers List (ATL).

Companies will pay a surcharge of Rs 20,000 and an association of person Rs 10,000 for inclusion in ATL. Association of persons is the relation between persons, who have agreed to share the profits of a business carried amongst all stakeholders.

It is noteworthy that the FBR surpassed its collection target by Rs 13 billion to Rs 2.911 trillion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, as shown in the provisional data released by the tax authorities on Friday.

It was the second consecutive month that the tax collection surpassed its projection. The revenue collection increased by nine per cent during July-February when compared with Rs 2.681 trillion collected in the same period last year.

An official of FBR said that the revenue collection was achieved two days ahead of the end of the current month.