KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue
(FBR) has buckled up to take action against individuals who didn’t file their
tax returns despite buying, selling or transferring properties during the last
year, officials said on Tuesday.
The officials said
Income Tax Ordinance 2001 bounds three categories of taxpayers to file their
returns: those who own immovable property with a land area of 250 square yards
or more or a flat located in areas falling within the municipal limits and own
immoveable property of 500 square yards or more or a flat having covered area
of 2,000 square feet or more.
They said tax
authorities are compiling data of sale and purchase of immovable properties
during the last year. The exercise would help the tax authorities identify
property transactions made during the tax year of 2016 and compare them with
the annual returns. “If returns were not filed the tax departments should
initiate legal proceedings against individuals,” said an official.
Officials said the
decision was made at a meeting, last week, between FBR Chairman Muhammad
Irshad, chief commissioners of large taxpayers units and regional tax offices,
located in Sindh. The meeting discussed the Section 236C and 236K of
Income Tax Ordinance 2001, which deals with the sale, purchase and transfer of
properties.
Sources said the FBR
chairman directed the officials to further enhance monitoring of transactions
made in cooperative housing societies, Defence Housing Authority and Bahria
Town. Officials said recoveries were made related to property
transactions in Bahria Town and notices were also issued in some cases.
Further, the meeting
was informed that tax officials had visited various registrar offices for spot
checking of transactions to ensure that tax was withheld as per the valuation
tables of the FBR.
Sources said the FBR
properties valuation is still not reflecting the open market rates. People are
also making transactions on collector rates. Officials told the FBR chief
that the tax departments were unable to glean actual statistics of property
transactions despite that district registrar offices were digitally connected
with the board.
A property buyer has
to pay an additional withholding tax rate of four percent besides three percent
on a transaction if s/he fails to file returns. Withholding tax on a property
transaction is two percent if a buyer is an income tax return filer.
The chairman also
directed the tax offices to plug loopholes, related to withholding taxes, in
other provisions of the ordinance, including banking cash transactions and
non-cash transactions and motor vehicle tax.
No comments:
Post a Comment