ISLAMABAD – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has warned non-filers of fines, discontinuation of utilities and suspension of bank accounts.
In extreme cases, non-filers may face travel restrictions on airports and motorways.
To avoid consequences, the FBR has urged non-filers to immediately approach the nearest tax office for their registration.
As per the media reports, FBR has already started a countrywide survey of business and commercial units for identifying non-filers.
Pakistan has a narrow tax base of around 5.2 million people in a population of more than 240 million.
Rampant tax evasion and a low tax-to-GDP ratio is a serious challenge for the country.
Owing to this reason, the FBR has launched a nationwide drive to broaden the tax base, targeting all eligible persons and those earning taxable income, to get registered with the tax system and file their returns.
FBR has so far gathered data of hundreds of thousands of financial transactions of people who are still out of the tax net.
FBR is hoping for the addition of 1.5 million new taxpayers to the existing list.
