The Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, introduced the system, using which citizens can check their tax profile after paying a fee of Rs500.

To encourage the majority, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has propelled a Tax Profiling System in a joint effort with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which enables the enlisted clients to see their duty profiles. The framework coordinates information including property, financial balances, service charges, goes from different sources.

Online Tax profiling framework for 53m individuals disclosed

The legislature on Friday morning revealed two online entrances containing data of around 53 million individuals relating to their ledgers, properties, travel history, and so forth.

At night, Prime Minister Imran Khan caused a broadcast advance to individuals to proclaim that their profiles are in safe hands under the super vision of government and this is only kept for the reason of making the whole process of tax collection transparent at every step and to also complement the available tax schemes. This announcement has just made before the assets declaration date (Tax amnesty) that is June 30.

Also read: IMF & Pakistan: Impact of Rupee Devaluation on Economy

Now is the time to flex the muscles as the asset declaration date is just around the corner

The announcement declared the safety majors that have been taken to protect the data that is going on board while whole Pakistan profile their tax.

 Tax Profile

The assessment profile incorporates every one of the subtleties from financial balances to past service bills and duties paid, your properties, the vehicle or bicycle you drive, and the local and universal excursions.

The Tax profile empowers the citizens to precisely pronounce their advantages with the FBR and have influence over each and every person to file their tax properly as well as to profile them in data base.

Upsides and downsides

Mix of information from numerous administration sources on a solitary stage is a first of its kind accomplishment and saves the residents the issue of visiting various government workplaces to submit their tax profile. Through this platform, the data can be easily assessable whenever you want.

As indicated by the official explanations, the system has been made completely secure and no other individual can get to data. If necessary, the security could be additionally upgraded. A definitive target of the entryway is to cross over any barrier and give data to the general population at their doorsteps.

The progression would fill in as a first connection in the chain for a more prominent tax net, the government shows resolve and further improves information security.

Also read: Want to Know How to File Tax Returns in Pakistan? Read this Guide

The drawback is the Rs 500 expense, which may hamper the procedure. It could fill in as an impediment to a generally helpful procedure as many citizens would be hesitant to pay a charge for the procedure. Cutting the charge would help guarantee most extreme investment from the majority.

Registration Criteria

for registering on the portal, these are the points to be considered:

• Pakistani National and hold a valid CNIC/NICOP
• Hold a PTA registered Mobile number (for citizen residing in Pakistan only)
• Should have an Email Address (for citizen residing outside Pakistan)
• Should have made payment of 500 PKR either through e-Sahulat or Debit Card
• Should be above or 18 years of age

Easy Three steps for registration

To approach your information accessible with the administration, you should enroll on the Tax Profiling System by filling in your information and addressing numerous inquiries, for security reasons.

The enlistment procedure further incorporates three stages:

1.         Personal data – CNIC, PTA-affirmed mobile number

2.         Email/Mobile verification – Verification code through mobile/email

3.         Citizen confirmation – Two key questions identified with your family for check

When you are done, you need to make a payment of Rs 500 either through a debit card or by visiting any e-Sahulat center.

The way that the choice to transfer the individual information of around 53m natives online was taken without following a partner procedure and parliamentary discussion is very concerning. The Constitution ensures residents’ entitlement to protection, and however the information gathered by Nadra, for instance, was energetically submitted, it was without the understanding that this data would be put on an online gateway at some future date. The way that movement history is additionally incorporated into this profile has been especially shaking for some. During a time when utilizing a moderately amiable application requires consenting to a comprehensive terms-and-conditions understanding, this sells out a lazy demeanour towards how Pakistanis’ own information is assembled, put away and utilized. Furthermore, however FBR director Shabbar Zaidi has given affirmations that the database is secure, the general absence of transparency still brings up difficult issues about what safeguards have been taken — or what plan of action natives have in the (anyway impossible) case of a security rupture.

 Pakistan still comes up short on an individual information security law. A draft bill presented by the IT service a year ago has a few noteworthy weaknesses — the most appropriate for this situation being that it doesn’t stretch out to open bodies and government-held individual information, which incorporates biometric sensitivities. Following the June 30 due date (after which the entryway would have viably filled its need) it should be taken disconnected.

All the way this is going to be an efficient initiative — and it is trusted that it has fruitful security and protection addresses should be replied before any comparative activities are embraced once more.

Regardless of whatever the circumstances are, this step by the Pakistani authorities should be praised and accepted all the way by the citizens in order to make our Tax profiling system stronger and just.

For further information please refer to the official websites of FBR and NADRA.

Khurram Zahid

The post Tax Profiling System Launched by NADRA & FBR with all Your Asset Details appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

According to the economic experts, the higher the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the more tax revenues government of the specific country can earn. This is so because of the value of goods and services of the country increases.

Also read: How to Manage your Expenses when you get Unemployed in Pakistan

Although sounds boring but the information is of a great importance for all the general public as every person takes an individual participation in stabilizing or jolting the economy of a country. Thus for those who are salaried people of the society, it is a must to have concerns about their income tax return.

In the year 2018, with changing economic conditions of Pakistan, there is more need for the society to know their tax-related liabilities. For this reason, we have gathered all the basic yet necessary information to make you understand how to file your income tax return and reap the benefits as a tax filer.

Most salaried people have had their own bank accounts where they get their salaries. And to those, this information is clear that the real-time interbank fund transfer is charged with the withholding taxes, also called as WHT. The WHT is charged under the section 236P of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 for the non-filers. According to this newly rule the bank to bank transactions is charged at approximately 0.3% WHT unless the beneficiary or the owner of the account files his income tax within the given time period.

You can also get charged a bit more while buying an automobile or any appliance. Also in case when withholding tax is more than the applicable tax on an appliance, tax filing will be the only way that can help to get a refund and save thousands of rupees.

Also read: 9 Things to Check Before Buying a Used Car

Also, if you are filing a tax return, there are more chances that you will be served with better services at the excise office, at the airport and a number of other benefits that are generally not given to non-filers.

If you are looking to save some extra amount of money each year, here is the simplest guide to file a tax return in Pakistan. This guide will help you understand how to file tax return online without any hassle. Plus, with this guide, you don’t need to look for and pay any tax consultant to deal with tax filing process. Another perk of this guide is that with online and easy to do services you can file your return in minimum time and efforts that you can easily adjust to your busy routine.

How to get started?

Preparing the ingredients is important before performing any activity. So before sitting online to file your tax return, you must prepare for all the things that you will need during the process. Having a valid CNIC is the most important thing to have.

According to recent tax amnesty scheme by Government of Pakistan, there is a ZERO tax if the annual income of a person is up to PKR 1.2 million. Means an individual who has a monthly income of about PKR 100,000 will have to pay no tax.

But if you are earning more than PKR 1,200,000/- in a year, then you are eligible to pay tax. And filing this tax return online can help you save a lot of time and hassle. And the quantity or rate of tax is determined by the government on yearly basis and is done on the basis of the annual budget.

Also read: 25 Ways to Save Money in Pakistan if You are a Salaried Person

The tax rate is determined in the month of June every year. Before filing the tax return on the website of the FBR, you need to calculate your net income in one year and tax that implies on it. This calculation is done on the basis of the income slab you belong to.

Online registration process for individuals

The individuals need to get registered on E-Enrollment system available on the website of FBR. With the recent updates, back in 2017, the FBR launched a SRO (Statutory Regulatory Orders) according to which the tax return filer can use the CNIC or the National Tax Number to proceed.

Below is a step by step procedure how to register as an individual tax return filer on FBR:

• You need to get to the main page of IRIS which is a simple ERP system specifically designed for the taxpayer registration.
• Then you have to get the “Registration Number” and the Password from the E-Enrollment process of the FBR.

• In the next step, you need to go to the link for “Registration of Unregistered Person”. You have to visit the link and register only for once. During the process, you will get a confirmation email or SMS on your registered mobile number. You will also get a Pin or Password to login to your account. For security reasons, sometime this password may take some days.
• The screen will look something like shown below. You will need to fill-up all the sections given in the form.

• Once you fill up the form and logged into your account by entering the registration number and password on the main page of the IRIS, you are now ok to proceed with filling the wealth statement.
• If you are a salaried person, you will need to fill up the wealth statement to proceed with income tax return. To read the process of filing wealth statement, click here.

Important things to note

The User ID for the IRIS is your registration number. The details of which are as below:

• For an Individual Pakistani you need a 13-Digit mentioned on the CNIC/NICOP. Do not mention dashes in the number.
• For a non-Pakistani individual, the 7 digit NTN should be given, without dashes.
• While in case of a company or an AOP, the 7 digit NTN number should be used without dashes.

Last words:

We have tried to offer you the maximum details about the process in the easiest to do manner. And we hope this guide will really help you to deal with the process. As discussed previously the idea behind the whole discussion is that you need to file your tax return to be a positive part of the society and the economy. It also helps you to avoid the WHT transactions by your bank.

Thus while filing the return, you can claim the WHT from the FBR. After carrying out the audit, FBR will send you a cheque, if they find that you qualified for refund. Despite the fact that the government of Pakistan still needs to, and is working, to reform the tax mechanism to help the law-following citizen in Pakistan. We still hope that the FBR continue streamlining the process of fixing the tax returns efficiently.

Khurram Zahid

The post Want to Know How to File Tax Returns in Pakistan? Read this Guide appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

“Finance Minister Mr. Ishaq Dar is said to have approved a budget proposal to charge a single income tax rate of 31% from the new financial year 2016-17, on all sources of income of insurance companies,” said sources in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

At the moment, insurance income is put into various categories with tax rates from 10% to 32%. It’s pertinent to mention here that it’s not just the insurance sector that gets taxed within different brackets. Other corporate sectors also get the same treatment.

Finance Minister Mr. Ishaq Dar has also cleared a budget proposal to levy a withholding tax on insurance premiums,” added the sources. “A rate of 1% withholding tax may be imposed on life insurance while for general insurance it could be as high as 4%.”

According to an alternate proposal, the government is also likely to increase tax rates on health and life insurance commission agents who are non-filers of income tax returns, while the minimum tax on corporate service providers, who submit their accounts for audit, may also go up from 2% to 2.5%.

The size of the insurance business in Pakistan is very small, constituting about 0.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) including the public sector insurance companies. This ratio is 3.8% in India, 3% in China and 8.6% in Germany.

According to the Insurance Association of Pakistan (IAP), there are six private insurance companies working in life insurance business excluding state-owned State Life Insurance Company. The private life insurance companies’ gross premium stood at Rs74.2 billion and they earned Rs3.2 billion profit after tax in the year ended on December 31, 2015. The 30 general insurance companies had gross premium of Rs61.3 billion and their after-tax profit stood at Rs13.6 billion, according to the IAP.

The government may increase the income tax rates on dividend income and capital gains to bring it at par with the standard corporate tax rate of 31% for the insurance sector, said the sources.

Currently, the income of insurance business, dividend income and capital gains is taxed in the range of 10% to 32%. The standard corporate rate of 32% will be reduced by 1% to 31% next year under a five-year corporate tax rate reduction plan. However, to counter the effects of this reduction, the government has been steadily increasing the rates of other source like dividend income.

The FBR thinks that insurance companies tend to invest in stocks and mutual funds to avail tax benefits and the purpose of a change in tax structure is to discourage this tendency.

The private insurance business hardly exists in the country and any upward revision in tax rates will have devastating effects on the sector and the insurance cost will go up, said Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME) Executive Director Ali Salman.

“The heavy presence of public sector in the insurance business is also detrimental to the sector’s growth. Moreover, the foreign exchange that the country earns by exporting the re-insurance services could also get affected due to these changes,” he added.

The government may also slap 1% withholding tax on life insurance premiums and claims and 4% on general insurance. The insurance sector is so far exempted from payment of withholding tax.

The commission paid to life and health insurance agents is taxed at the rate of 12% for filers and 15% for non-filers. The government may reduce the rate for filers to 8% but for non-filers the rate may be proposed to increase to 16%.

Khurram Zahid

The post Insurance Sector To Become Victim Of Drastic Tax Structure Reform! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

In line with enhancing broadband penetration in Pakistan, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) introduced a broadband policy focusing on a number of areas to not only encourage investment but also to boost awareness among the masses.

Last month, in partnership with a telecom vendor (Huawei), the PTA launched a nationwide broadband “road-show” to encourage ordinary citizens to see for themselves how broadband services can revolutionize their every-day life-styles.

The PTA has also forecast that the number of broadband users in Pakistan will reach some 19.5 million by the year 2020 – a slow but substantial increase in the number of subscribers.

Access to broadband internet is known to have dramatically improved the efficiency, productivity and performance of a society – allowing people access to global information and resources that can be applied to their localities and surroundings.

But all that said, for the over-all social uplift, it is also very important for local information and local content to be generated and be readily available within Pakistan. This should especially include e-Government initiatives and access to forms and documentation online, allowing people to perform a number of day to day tasks online. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has truly revolutionized the way people used to apply for Tax registration and filing of returns and all government departments can take it is a leading example.

We, as a nation, need to focus on generating local content, publishing web content in local languages as much as possible for broadband to have its true effect in uplifting our living standards.

Khurram Zahid

The post Broadband for Social Uplift appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.