CHINIOT: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reopened its unit office of the Income Tax Department in the Chiniot city after 12 years.

The Chiniot income tax circle office was established in the 1990s to help taxpayers and to broaden the tax base.

In 2005, the FBR underwent tax reforms and merged circles offices into regional tax offices (RTOs). The Chiniot office was merged into the Faisalabad RTO. The closure resulted in protests by taxpayers as they had to travel to Faisalabad for filing tax returns and addressing notices etc.

Later, the FBR gradually changed its policies and approved unit offices at district and tehsil levels. The Faisalabad RTO established a zonal office at Jhang, headed by the Inland Revenue Commissioner, which supervises the unit offices established in Chiniot, Jhang and Tob Tek Singh districts.

Chiniot office in charge Iqbal Gohar told Dawn the Chiniot office had unit offices No 9, 10 and 11. The Unit 9 deals with identification of new taxpayers and broadens the tax base while the Unit 10 deals with existing cases of taxpayers of Chiniot tehsil. The Unit 11 will deal with tax cases of Lalian and Bhowana tehsils.

Income Tax Bar Association leader Shaukat Ali Azad welcomed the decision, saying that the office would help some 4,000 taxpayers of Chiniot district.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2017