Around 76,000 Sindh govt officers not filing returns

KARACHI: The Federal Board Revenue has detected 76,000 senior officials of the Sindh government who did not file their income tax return, it emerged on Sunday.

The officials, who violated Section 114 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 by not filing their returns, are serving in grade 18 to grade 20.

Commissioner Inland Revenue Atif Ali drew the attention of Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah towards the data obtained from the Accountant General’s office which said around 93,000 employees had been earning taxable salary, but only 17,000 of them were filing their tax returns.

In a letter addressed to the chief secretary, the commissioner informed him that it was the violation of income tax law, which required every individual earning taxable income to furnish his/her return of income. However, it had been noted that most employees including those in grade-20 remained complacent on the plea that their income tax had already been deducted from their salaries; thus filing of the return was not mandatory.

The chief secretary’s attention was drawn towards this misconception asking him to direct all officers to fulfil their legal obligation by filing of the return.