Business owners sceptical of indicative incomes under the Taajir dost scheme; how just is their plea? Most salaried individuals in Pakistan look at business owners with some level of contempt. To them, these business owners that deal in cash and avoid taxes are why the tax burden keeps increasing on those already documented. In some parts it makes sense.
Business owners in Pakistan do often go under the radar of the tax hounds, but the reality of the problem exists with tax collection in Pakistan and the FBR continuing to deepen their tax net instead of widening it. And they are justified in their claims. Business owners in Pakistan have since long avoided the tax net.
A large number of them are either not registered with the FBR, or even if they are, they have the luxury of under-reporting their incomes, due to lack of scrutiny. The constant criticism in this entire time has been the FBR continues to bring the hammer down on the salaried classes and fails to capture tax revenue from these businesses. Recently, in an effort to change this, the FBR tried to reinvent the wheel.
They announced a scheme in six cities meant for retailers to voluntarily sign up to. Providing them with easy access through mobile apps and benefits of early registration, the FBR was aiming to bring all the businesses inside the tax net. The first was introduced as a pilot project in a limited number of cities to test its feasibility and impact.
It was aimed at understanding the challenges and opportun.