Skip to main content

FBR seeks income details of doctors, surgeons

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday sought details of income of doctors and surgeons associated with Karachi’s major hospitals and health institutes who are “having thriving practice but are not paying taxes on their income”, leaving many practitioners in a quandary about objective behind the move.

A notification issued by the FBR addressing the commissioner inland revenue in Karachi showed a list of 30 private and public hospitals operating in the city to collect data of all health practitioners working in these facilities so their provided details would be “cross-matched” with the claims they made while filing withholding statements.

Talking to Dawn, FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi said that notices were issued to document all professions and sectors. “We have started from Karachi in the first phase,” he said, adding that under the Income Tax Ordinance people having taxable income would have to file their returns. “We will send notices to all hospitals across the country to seek information about non-filer doctors,” the chairman said.

Notices issued to 30 Karachi hospitals

“During the task of identifying new taxpayers, it transpired that a large number of physicians and surgeons are registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and having thriving practice in Karachi but are not paying taxes on their income,” said the FBR notification. “In order to find out new taxpayers, this office has sent notices under Section 176 to the following [names of 30 hospitals] for providing information about the doctors practicing there, their income and other related matters,” it added.

The names of the health facilities identified by the FBR are: Mamji Hospital, Dow University Hospital, The Indus Hospital, National Medical Centre, Anklersaria Hospital, Ibn-e-Seena Hospital, Life Care Consultant Clinic, Karachi Adventist Hospital, Nehal Hospital, A.O. Clinic, Dar-ul-Sehat Hospital, Agha Khan University Hospital, Usmania University Hospital, Jinnah Hospital, OMI Hospital, Fatmiya Hospital, Zulekha Hospital, Mid City Hospital, Ashfaq Memorial Hospital, Habib Medical Centre, Hashmanis Hospital, Saifee Hospital, Healthcare Hospital, Park Lane Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital, Taj Medical Complex, Ziauddin Medical Centre Hospital and SIUT.

A senior Sindh health official said that he had “just heard” about the FBR move but not sure about its target professionals and exact objective. He said the doctors and surgeons associated with both public and private facilities paid tax on their income regularly and in most of the organisations it was deducted at-force while paying salaries to them.

A senior member of the Pakistan Medical Association, when contacted, avoided commenting on the issue, saying the body or professionals associated with it had not yet received any such request or warning from the FBR so it was not appropriate to discuss this at this point of time.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2K8H8NN
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...

If Pakistani elderly self-distance infections could drop 30%: study

If we do nothing, COVID-19 could infect 206 million Pakistanis and kill 691,000. This is the estimation of researchers from the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team who have published country-wise projections in a March 26 report ‘ The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression ’ Furthermore, using an infection fatality rate from China, this means 4.4 million Pakistanis would require hospitalisation and from among those, 917,000 individuals would require critical care. Pakistan has a population of 220 million people. The research is based on the infection fatality rate from China, country health care system capacities and that one person with coronavirus is likely to infect 3 others. (You can find the excel sheet with Pakistan numbers here: Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx ) Forty-seven researchers crunched the numbers and made these projections to give countries, including Pakistan, some idea of...