Federal Board of Revenue harassing taxpayers: Yakoob H Karim

Karachi, October 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): President of the Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Yakoob H Karim, has strongly criticized over selection of 77,500 taxpayers for audit through computer balloting. He in a statement said that this would be nothing but to harass the taxpayers.

He said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) instead of broadening thetax base and bringing in new taxpayers, disturbing and harassing thosewho are already paying taxes. He asked FBR to provide details of total number of Karachi based taxpayers (Sales Tax and Income Tax) selected for audit in order to fully evaluate the impact of such audit.

Yakoob advised the FBR to FBR to stop any further action such as issuance of audit notices or initiation of audit proceedings, until the issue is resolved in consultation with the chambers’ representatives as well as relevant trade bodies.

He said that that FBR should not take the easy way out to enhance revenues by squeezing the same set of taxpayers who are already paying their taxes on regular basis, instead of making intensive efforts for
broadening tax base by identifying new taxpayers and getting them into the tax net.

He said that FBR could easily bring over 600,000 new taxpayers into the net but is avoiding the more challenging task of laying its hands on those who are leading the lifestyles well beyond their declared
income and assets.

Despite claiming many times that the FBR has compiled the list of more than 700,000 individuals who have a lavish living standard and assets worth millions but are not paying any
taxes, the FBR has neither published the list nor taken measures to register these individuals for recovery of Income Tax and Wealth Tax.

For more information, contact:
Muhammad Farhan
Public Relations Officer
Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
Ground Floor,
Lieda Office Building,
Hub Distt., Lasbela
Tel: +92-85-3303410, +92-85-3304461
Fax: +92-85-3302431
Cell: +92-85-300-2023448
Email: farhanprolcci@yahoo.com, info@lasbelachamber.com
Website: www.lasbelachamber.com