Islamabad (Staff Report): Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar announced on Tuesday that the government has decided to waive the penalty and audit for late filers for preceding years as well.
“The government has decided to waive the penalty for late filing along with audit for Salaried Group of late filer cases. These cases were selected for audit and penalty was prescribed by the previous government. This govt is committed on facilitating people in filing returns,” the state minister said in a tweet.
The Federal Board of Revenue had on Nov 14 issued audit notices to over a million late filers who had submitted returns for tax years 2015, 2016 and 2017. They were asked to pay a Rs20,000 penalty or higher taxes for automatic closure of audit proceedings.
The government has decided to waive the penalty for late filing along with audit for Salaried Group of late filer cases. These cases were selected for audit and penalty was prescribed by the previous government. This govt is committed on facilitating people in filing returns.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) November 27, 2018
Section 214D was deleted from the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 under the Finance Act 2018. The new government had said it had decided to do away with the section to avoid "undue hardships" faced by new taxpayers and to facilitate the process of broadening of tax base.
