UNISAME URGES FBR TO EXEMPT SMEs FROM FILING WEALTH STATEMENTS

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) whilst appreciating the mandatory filing of wealth tax returns along with income tax returns urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to lighten the burden for the SMEs and exempt the small businesses having annual income of less than Rs 2.5 millions from filing wealth statements along with the income tax returns.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said filing of wealth statements was made mandatory for salaried individual deriving income above Rs. 500,000.00 annually and for business individuals the limit was Rs. 500,000.00 annually which was later extended to Rs. 1,000,000.00 (1 Million) in the tax year 2011 and finally for the those business individuals whose income is subjected to final taxation on which tax has been deducted of Rs. 35,000.00 or more.

He said now some major amendments were made through Finance Act, 2013 and mandatory filing of annual return of income along with wealth statement for all those salaries individuals whose salary exceeds Rs. 400,000.00 annually. (Previously the limit was Rs. 500,000.00)
Secondly the filing of wealth statement is made compulsory for all taxpayers even for those who are declaring losses. (Basically this amendment was made due to introduction of Capital Asset Tax (CAT) under the Income Support Levy Act, 2013 so that every taxpayer comes under the net of CAT.

He said the union appreciates the amendment of compulsory filing of wealth statement due to the levying of Capital Asset Tax (CAT). The filing of wealth statement made mandatory is a good step taken by this government as most of the people do not declare their assets due to undeclared income but the union has urged the FBR to exempt the small businesses from the compulsion of filing wealth statements along with the income tax returns as it will be tedious for them.

The union has also urged the FBR to simplify the procedure of filing income tax returns for SMEs and facilitate them to file manually and not insist on electronic filing.

Posted in: Press Releases