BY October 13, only 135,000 people had e-filed their income tax returns as a result of the monstrous e-filing system run by the Federal Board of Revenue.
A majority of taxpayers cannot afford to hire tax consultants and they feel the inefficient and unhelpful information technology system is creating hassles than facilitating them. And the ill-trained manpower deployed to run the system is said to worsen the filers’ troubles.
Interestingly, the FBR’s system did not accept the return filed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. But top FBR officials were at his call to take care of his problems; ordinary taxpayers can never have that facility.
Instead of holding FBR officials responsible, the government keeps on extending the deadline for the filing of income tax returns. This doesn’t necessarily bring more revenue to the government, but only covers up the inefficiencies of the tax administration. In short, the situation demands that the government address the capacity issues in the tax administration, rather than distrust taxpayers.
