ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Taxpayers who filed their returns late can get back on the Active Taxpayers’ List without paying the Rs25,000 charge by submitting a new form, Form ATL-U, under a procedure issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The catch is a promise not to buy property for six months.
Individual taxpayers and sole proprietors can do it on the IRIS 2.0 portal. Log in to your account, find Form ATL-U under the Declaration tab or the task bar, select the tax year, read the undertaking, sign it digitally and submit. Your filer status is then activated automatically, the procedure says.
Under the undertaking, you cannot purchase, acquire or obtain ownership rights to any property for six months. Draft rules published in October also covered a beneficial interest in property, and counted the six months from the date of the electronic acknowledgement from IRIS.
The FBR can check compliance using data from registries, financial institutions and other agencies, according to the draft. If a breach is established after an electronic hearing, the benefit is withdrawn from the date of the breach and the usual rules for late filers apply.
If you plan to buy a plot or flat in the next six months, this route is not for you. Read the wording of the undertaking on the portal before you sign, because the October rules were a draft.
