92% of registered companies did not file tax returns

The number of (Tax Identification Number) TIN holders in the country is increasing, but the return submission has not increased proportionately, said the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

According to NBR, at the end of the deadline for returns submission for fiscal year 2023-24, only 24,381 companies/institutions submitted returns, which is 8.45 per cent of the total institutions. It means more than 92 per cent of the companies did not pay tax returns.

Official documents of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms show the number of registered public and private limited companies till December 2023 is 2.88 lakh. According to the data, out of these, 2.64 lakh companies have not paid tax.

The rule of NBR, it is mandatory to file income tax return irrespective of profit or loss after registration. However, most of the companies did not file their income tax returns till the first six months (July-December) of FY 2023-24.

The NBR official said that many companies have not started a business despite having registration, said Tax Commissioner Iqbal Bahar. "Again, many companies do not submit returns and many are using fake addresses. As a result, the government is losing a large amount of revenue," he added.