FBR to Finally Crackdown on High-Income Non-Taxpayers

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is all set to register high-net-worth individuals including non-filers and nil-filers under a new enforcement plan.  FBR has completed its homework for the implementation of the enforcement plan at the level of the field formation. Non-filers and taxpayers, declaring zero-income or concealing income and assets would be the top target of the enforcement exercise.  Field formations would issue notices to the high-net-worth individuals after the approval of the FBR chairman.  In the first phase, the FBR will issue notices to 5,000 non-filers, with an estimated tax liability of Rs. 7 billion. The tracking of these notices would be done through the dedicated dashboard of FBR.  After internal analysis with a desk audit of transaction data for 200,000 non-filers, the top 5,000 high-net-worth individuals will receive notices in the coming week.   According to the FBR’s data on return filing, out of 4.821 million income tax returns filed for tax year 2024, 1.820 million returns filed nil income. There was zero tax deposited with these nil returns.  Last year, 859,929 persons filed nil-income against a total 2.407 million returns filed (up to October 26) for tax year 2023.