FBR to abolish category of non-filers

Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to abolish the category of non-filers and impose 15 restrictions on non-taxpayers, of which five will be imposed initially, including property, vehicles, international travel, and electricity. There are restrictions on account opening and investment in mutual funds.

FBR announced to introduce several restrictions targeting non-filers to enhance tax compliance and broaden the tax base and the non-filer category will be abolished.

Initial restrictions include buying property, buying vehicles, investing in mutual funds, opening current accounts and international travel (except for religious travel).

The government is doing away with the non-filer category which means that individuals who previously paid a small fee to avoid paying tax on these transactions will no longer be able to do so.

FBR Chairman Rashid Mehmood Langriyal revealed that 15 specific activities will be banned for tax return defaulters, focusing initially on five key areas. These measures are part of FBR's transformation plan which has been approved by the Prime Minister.

Criticizing the concept of non-filers, Chairman FBR said that such classifications are not found worldwide and should be done away with and focus should be on tax-compliant and non-compliant individuals. “We will identify non-filers through advanced machine learning and algorithms”.

He further said that last year only Rs25 billion was collected from non-filers as fees while the potential tax revenue from these persons was still not collected. Under the new policies, non-filers should be prevented from opening traditional bank accounts to crack down on smuggling, except for basic accounts of low-income persons, the FBR is increasing automation and manpower at key entry points across the country.