22,000 enrolled under Tajir Dost Scheme

KARACHI: As many as 22,000 traders have been registered under the FBR’s Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS) so far, and the number is likely to go up as more traders are willing to get themselves registered in this scheme, said Chief Coordinator of the TDS Naeem Mir.

“The fear and misgivings of traders need to be removed for the success of this scheme in order to enhance the tax base”, he stated while speaking at the meeting of traders at the Federation of the Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) on Friday.

He said traders were afraid about what would happen once they were registered in this scheme and were assured that there would not be any harassment after registration. He said the FBR can issue notices to traders regardless of if they are registered in the TDS and noted that this scheme can be amended, if traders have any genuine concerns. However he said that the noose was getting tightened around non-filers, and it was his responsibility to save traders from difficulties.

FBR officer Muhammad Samad Qureshi briefed the traders about this scheme. He said paying taxes is a national duty and impressed upon the traders to get rid of their misunderstanding and explained that the FBR’s inquiries about something through third party information should not be seen as harassment.

He said tax collection has become a matter of national survival and conditions of the IMF are also very strict as retailers are out of the tax net. “We can only carry out tax assessment through the retail value as the FBR do not have the resources to audit small traders, whose number is in hundreds of thousands.”

Chief Commissioner Hina Ikram said Rs1200 retail tax on an annual basis is a meagre amount and added that we are simply registering the traders now and would be waiting for the government’s next direction. Earlier, representatives of traders complained about the harassment they faced from the FBR.