KARACHI: The Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Karachi on Wednesday said that it has identified over 100,000 persons having commercial gas connections but not registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
This was disclosed by chief commissioners of LTU Karachi at a press conference. The media interaction is part of the strategy to update about performance of tax machinery.
Zulfiqar Memon and Girdhari Mal, the chief commissioners of the LTU Karachi, informed that the persons had been identified through data verification obtained from Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and available record from tax offices.
They said that the FBR would enforce mandatory sales tax registration on those commercial gas connection holders.
About measures against tax evasion, they said that in the first four months of current fiscal year the unit examined financial records of companies and issued notices to around 10 companies for concealing Rs100 billion. They said that one company alone evaded Rs23 billion.
The LTU officers said that the unit registered growth of 16 percent in revenue collection during first four months of current fiscal year. The revenue collection of the unit was Rs402.16 billion during July – October 2019/2020 as compared with Rs346.86 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
They attributed the revenue growth to the recent reforms initiative by the government. They said that the reforms had resulted in economic activities and subsequently rise in revenue collection.
Sector wise major revenue contributor was banking sector followed by refineries, oil marketing companies and textile etc.
The LTU Karachi has jurisdiction over 5,056 big turnover units. As per criteria the LTU Karachi will have jurisdiction over a company having over Rs400 million turnover or Rs20 million as tax contribution in a year.
Talking about the recent reforms initiatives by the government including proposed formation of Pakistan Revenue Authority (PRA), the officials said that the filed units were not against the government plan.
However, they said, the FBR chairman had assured to address grievances of tax employees related to reform program.
