Islamabad, Aug 30: Out of the 3.1 million merchants in Pakistan, only 270,000 (8.7%) submitted tax reports and paid a total of Rs. 34 billion in the preceding tax year.
In the meantime, during the review period, the salaried class paid Rs. 375 billion in taxes; because of higher tax rates, this amount is anticipated to increase to Rs. 450 billion in the current fiscal year.
80–90 billion rupees were supplied by exporters previous year. They have since been moved to the standard tax system, though. Meanwhile, large landowners paid only Rs. 2 billion in Agriculture Income Tax (AIT).
Further information on registered retailers: out of 416,000 shopkeepers, almost 269,000 submitted returns and paid taxes totaling Rs. 33.98 billion. The quantity and value of return filers varied greatly in important areas like Lahore and Karachi. 2,477 filers paid Rs. 1.15 billion to the Corporate Tax Office (CTO) in Karachi, and 1,807 filers paid Rs. 507 million to the CTO in Lahore.
The Regional Tax Office (RTO) in Lahore, where 41,454 return filers paid Rs. 7.115 billion in taxes, was the source of the greatest contributions. Regions such as RTO Multan, where 21,727 filers paid Rs. 1.293 billion in taxes, and RTO Peshawar, where 13,547 filers paid Rs. 1.687 billion, had smaller contributions.
