Online TIN registration takes off next month

The National Board of Revenue is set to start issuing taxpayer identification number certificates online from early next month.
Under the initiative, existing TIN holders and companies will require re-registration, a move which will allow the tax authority to identify both real and fake TIN holders, the NBR officials said.
The system will make the process of obtaining a TIN number free from hassles: all new applicants need to do is to key in their national identity card numbers online.
Those without national ID cards can use their passport numbers, and adolescents can use the national ID numbers of their parents, according to the NBR officials.
Individuals who already have TINs will have to provide their existing TINs and national ID numbers for registration.
Existing companies will have to provide their TINs and the registration numbers obtained from Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
NBR will issue TINs for both existing and fresh individuals and firms by examining records at the Election Commission and RJSC online.
“Taxpayers will be able to get TIN registration and TIN certificates from home though this system,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith said in his budget speech.
The tax collector has taken the initiative after it found that only 20 lakh out of the 37 lakh TINs currently circulating in the economy are genuine.
Of them, 11.64 lakh submitted tax returns in fiscal 2012-13, meaning that less than one percent of the 15 crore population pays taxes.