The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has further extended the deadline for e-TIN registration by three more months after it found nearly 50 per cent of the existing taxpayers yet to obtain the online TINs.
The time for online TIN registration was scheduled to expire Monday (March 31). The NBR has extended the time until June 30, 2014.
According to the NBR statistics, there are 3.8 million TIN holders across the country. Of them, some 1.7 million have valid address that can be identified later.
Until Monday, a total of 1.1 million taxpayers obtained e-TINs. Of them, 885,244 are exiting taxpayers who reregistered themselves by obtaining fresh TINs while 253,000 are new taxpayers.
Existing and new taxpayers will be able to obtain 12-digit e-TINs within the stipulated time. The NBR introduced the online TIN system from July 1, 2013 to bring discipline in the TIN system.
A senior tax official said the extension of the time is aimed at bringing more taxpayers under the tax net.
"We've noticed that people need time to get familiar with the newly introduced system of TIN issuance," he added.
Taxpayers and taxmen are yet to adapt with the system, especially in the field-level offices in remote areas, he said.
The old 10-digit TINs will be invalid from the upcoming fiscal year (FY), 2014-15, he said.
A press release, signed by Senior Information Officer of NBR Syed A Momen, said the existing 10-digit TIN holders can use their old TINs until the deadline.
It also said the taxmen will take punitive measures in line with the income tax ordinance, 1984 if any taxpayer fails to obtain an e-TIN by June 30, 2014.
"The NBR has extended the deadline for e-TIN registration by three months following request of the businesses and other stakeholders," it said.
Meanwhile, the NBR has rescheduled its pre-budget meeting with agriculture and poultry industry to April 17 at 3:00 pm from April 1 (today) for some unavoidable reasons.
