Holders of traditional 10-digit taxpayers’ identification number will face more hassle as their income tax returns will fall under mandatory audit system, officials of the National Board of Revenue said. They would also be denied around 30 services including registration and fitness renewal of car, opening letters of credit, getting loans and credit cards, ISD telephone line, and electricity and gas connection as 12-digit online generated TIN certificates will become mandatory for the services from July 1, they said.
The revenue board, however, proposed to extend the deadline for obtaining 12-digit e-TIN up to the last date of submission of income tax return in the next fiscal year, officials said.
The existing deadline is set to expire on June 30.
The last date of submission of return for individual taxpayer is September and for corporate taxpayers is December.
In the Finance Bill-2014, the government proposed these changes including withdrawal of the existing facilities for traditional TIN holders and maintaining some additional benefits for e-TIN holders.
The provision will come into effect from July 1 following approval of the finance bill in the parliament on June 29, NBR officials said.
‘Generally, every existing taxpayer having 10-digit TIN certificate will have to obtain 12-digit TIN certificate before the last date of submission of return. But if any one files income tax return with old TIN certificate, his or her return will have to face mandatory auditing,’ a high NBR official told New Age.
Taxmen will call them to tax offices repeatedly for hearing and for documents and assess their tax. But in universal self-assessment system, taxpayers themselves assess their taxes.
Taxpayers with old TIN will also not be able to submit income tax return under universal self assessment system and his or her return will be treated as normal return, he said.
They will also not be able to use their tax acknowledgement receipt as tax certificate which the 12-digit TIN holders will be allowed, he added. Ten-digit TIN holders will also have to pay 15 per cent tax at sources on profits derived from bank deposits while 12-digit TIN holders will enjoy 10 per cent tax.
According to the NBR statistics, currently, there are 17.52 lakh individuals and 50,000 company TIN holders in the country.
According to NBR data, till Thursday some 12.37 lakh taxpayers received e-TIN certificates. Of them, 9.27 lakh existing TIN holders re-registered under the e-TIN system while 3.10 lakh new taxpayers took e-TINs.
Of company taxpayers, 24,500 existing taxpayers replaced their old TINs by e-TINs while 6,400 new companies registered under the system.
According to Income Tax Ordinance-1984, there are around 30 areas where furnishing TIN is mandatory for getting services including opening of letters of credit and renewal of trade licence.
-With New Age input
