KARACHI: Speakers at the workshop said that lack of exposure and no access to the right guidance at a right time regarding tax basics was imprudent for the growth trajectory in Pakistan.
These views were expressed by the speakers during the workshop held here at the Arts Auditorium University of Karachi on Friday. Karachi University Commerce Alumni Association (KUCAA) arranged a tax workshop named “Basics of Tax Returns Filing” for the students of the Department of Commerce to enhance their exposure to the tax return and filing. The workshop was divided into two detailed sessions also provided practical training to the students on tax matters.
To address the aforementioned issues, Asif Kasbati and Amsal Kasbati were invited to inform the audience about the tax filling procedure and its importance.
Asif Kasbati, who has worked on drafting the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, with an Australian tax expert, emphasized the importance of tax collection for the country and how it benefits the economy and the citizens in the long run. This session ended with an hour-long interactive questions and answers session.
The session of Amsal Kasbati, who is the co-founder of Getfiler.com, was related to a demo of tax returns and filing. He guided participants on how to register and make an account on the FBR website to file the income tax return. The reason was to provide the awareness of filing taxes among the students from this very age and to enable them to offer tax filing services which could be the source of extra earning income.
On this occasion, the Vice Chancellor University of Karachi Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi observed that we have to bring more people under the tax system according to their source of income and assets as a large number of people still do not pay taxes in Pakistan.
He warned that if the tax system in the country will not improve then our country would remain in crisis forever. “One of the major reasons for our economic woes is the decline in tax collection rates. The government should take tough decisions to fix this issue at earliest.” The KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi suggested that speakers ask the government for making easy-to-follow, long-term plans for tax collection so that the amount generated can be better utilized in the welfare of the state and can regulate every citizen to file it.
Dr Sadaf Mustafa of Department of Commerce KU shared that as the present government has provided many facilities to the taxpayers owing to which the rate of taxpayers has slightly increased but it still needs to be improved.
She mentioned that training the citizens to file taxes is an important step and that is why this workshop has been organized where tax experts are sharing and training the students.
Dr. Sadaf Mustafa said that the main focus of the workshop was to provide a platform to students where they could enhance their learning curve on current tax practices in Pakistan and acknowledge the utmost significance of being a tax filer.