Tax returns deadline extended to Nov 2

The National Board of Revenue yesterday extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for individual taxpayers to November 2 from September 30.
The time has been extended in the face of demands from trade and professional bodies that taxpayers might be unable to complete all the formalities before the September 30 deadline due to Hajj and two religious festivals, Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja, NBR said in a statement yesterday.
Extension of the deadline has been a common feature over the years. But last year, the tax authorities extended the timeframe several times due to political unrest and to give people more time to get electronic taxpayer identification number (e-TIN).
The tax administration introduced online TIN to clean up its database of TINs that were issued manually earlier.

Some 3.91 lakh taxpayers signed up for TINs for the first time following the introduction of the online system, while 9.65 lakh of the old TIN holders re-registered.
However, the total number of taxpayers who furnish income tax and wealth statements remains lower than the registered TIN holders.
Last year, 10.38 lakh taxpayers submitted their tax returns, down 10.82 percent year-on-year, according to NBR.