The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has taken a stringent step to enhance enforcement by serving notices to over 8 million tax non-filers, according to officials from the tax collection body. These notices have been issued under the Income Tax General Order as part of the FBR’s efforts to tighten the noose around defaulters.
Details indicate that a total of 8.19 million notices have been served to tax non-filers, with over 2.4 million notices for the year 2022 and over 5.6 million notices for the year 2023. The FBR has emphasized that action will be initiated against individuals who fail to respond to the notices. In the second phase, telephone connections of non-registered individuals will be disconnected.
The move comes after Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar highlighted the significance of revenue generation and increasing the number of tax filers in recent meetings. The FBR has also announced the establishment of district tax offices as a new initiative to broaden the tax base and elevate the tax-to-GDP ratio to a desired level. These offices, headed by District Tax Officers, are tasked with enforcing Income Tax Returns from non-filers and stop-filers, as outlined in a press release from the FBR board.