Late filers to be included in Active Taxpayers List (ATL) IRS

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KARACHI: Goverment has decided to include names of taxpayers who filed their tax returns till March 31st 2019 in the Active Taxpayers List (ATL).[the_ad id="31605"]"It has been decided that in order to facilitate late tax filers, all Income Tax Returns filed till 31st March 2019 shall be included in the Active Tax Payers list," Minister of State on Revenue Hammad Azhar said in a tweet. All the trade bodies and tax practitioners had been urging the Federal Board of Revenue to include the names of those taxpayers into the Active Taxpayers List (ATL) who had filed tax returns after 31st December 2018 so that they could avail the benefits of active taxpayers. The inclusion in ATL means a lower rate for withholding tax, no tax on cash withdrawals and other tax benefits for the taxpayers. Notably, the Finance Act 2018 included an amendment (a section 182A) into the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. According to this amendment, if a person fails to file the income tax return on time, his/her name will not make it to the ATL for that year. Tax practitioners and trade bodies opposed the provision saying it would discourage broadening of tax base.

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