Lahore Chamber Of Commerce And Industry (LCCI)

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has recommended the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to launch a database of Tax Return Facilitators at national level to facilitate the taxpayers in filing their tax return

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2019 ) :Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has recommended the Federal board of Revenue (FBR) to launch a database of Tax Return Facilitators at national level to facilitate the taxpayers in filing their tax returns.

"This initiative will not only help in solving a serious problem being faced by the people who genuinely need assistance in completing tax returns but will also generate employment opportunities for thousands of educated people." In its proposals for federal budget 2019-20, the LCCI said the government had rightly focused on increasing the number of people who file tax returns and taken several measures in this regard.

"While the government is considering to simplify the tax return document, there is a genuine need to facilitate the process of completing it as well." Several countries with much higher literacy ratios than Pakistan have facilitated the general public by developing a database of people that are certified to assist tax payers in preparing their tax return.

It said under the taxpayer facilitator certification programme, the FBR should invite online registration from anyone with a minimum qualification of intermediate to register as a candidate for this certification.

LCCI and all other chambers can be used for video and live study sessions (to be conducted by FBR trained officers) to prepare for the certification programme.

FBR should also arrange quarterly certification tests for the candidates through one or multiple testing services such as NTS besides publishing a union council and district wise directory of the people who qualify the tax return facilitators certification examination.

FBR should also issue a maximum fee schedule for the facilitator services based on the category of taxpayer. For example a facilitator may charge up to Rs 500 for a salaried class individual tax return.

Under the programme, FBR should also maintain a performance rating of the facilitators based on the number of correct returns completed with their assistance.

Meanwhile the LCCI also proposed numerous measures to expand the tax system including introducing a simple and easy tax return form which should be available in both English and urdu for all the taxpayers including individuals traders, SMEs, corporate, banking, NGOs etc. separately so that everyone may file their return by themselves.

In addition to e-filing, the manual filing of the annual tax return should be allowed. Unfortunately, it is observed that to a tax literate person, 2-3 hours are required to complete a return manually and 10-12 hours are required to do the same electronically.

It is also pertinent to mention here that even in the most advanced countries like USA, option to file the tax return manually still exists.

Fixed tax system may be introduced to bring the new taxpayers in the tax net and a very nominal amount of tax such as Rs 10,000 to 20,000 may be fixed for those businessmen whose turnover is Rs 10 to 50 million. This will also encourage them and will also reduce the administrative expenses of the government.