Granted that the number of companies registered with the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) that filed returns in FY18 grew 20%, which is the fastest growth since FBR started releasing its tax directories. But the quality of growth is not really inspiring. Most of the increase in tax filers – 72% to be precise – is in the category of filers that filed a return of zero rupees. Nearly 81% of first-time filers filed a return of zero rupees. For clarification sake, first time filers or new filers are assumed to be those companies whose National Tax Numbers were found in FY18’s tax directory but not found in FY17’s tax directory. Understandably, this may not be the most tenable assumption, but in the absence of detailed analyses presented by FBR, this should shed at least some light on the expansion of the so-called tax net.
22/9/2020