FBR Highlights Disparities in Tax Compliance for FY 2023-24

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has expressed concern over significant disparities in tax compliance during the fiscal year 2023-24, particularly noting a stark contrast between income tax and sales tax filers.

As per the FBR report, while 4.74 million individuals were active income tax filers, only 234,193 filed sales tax returns. This gap highlights an urgent need to improve sales tax compliance across the board.

Regional Tax Office (RTO) Lahore topped both categories, with 809,131 active income tax filers and 41,783 sales tax filers. RTO-II Karachi ranked second with 522,284 income tax filers, while RTO Multan reported 382,575. For sales tax compliance, RTO-I Karachi followed Lahore with 20,979 filers.

Smaller regions like Sialkot showed promising results relative to their size, though urban areas continue to dominate the tax base. The report stressed the importance of addressing the uneven ratios of income to sales tax filers to achieve balanced and equitable tax participation across regions.

These figures reflect FBR’s ongoing efforts to expand the tax base and improve revenue collection while calling for targeted strategies to close the compliance gap