The Federal Board of Revenue began a nationwide exercise on October 2 to identify markets and individual shops as part of efforts to bring more small retailers into the tax system.
Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani directed FBR field teams to work alongside representatives of the business community during the mapping process, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
Officials were expected to visit markets on a daily schedule, identify shops and explain the simplified tax scheme to traders.
Moving from registration to outreach
The exercise follows FBR’s September 29 statement that the scheme was still in an early implementation phase.
The authority said it was working with traders and business organisations to resolve registration and filing difficulties.
During a review meeting, officials discussed the gap between the number of commercial electricity connections and the number of commercial meter holders filing tax returns.
Business Recorder reported that officials cited approximately 4.3 million commercial electricity meters and around 600,000 commercial meter holders who had filed returns.
Those figures came from reporting on the meeting and should not be treated as a separately verified count of unregistered businesses. A commercial electricity connection does not necessarily correspond to one taxable shop.
What traders were told
Kayani asked officials to address concerns raised by shopkeepers and their representatives.
The meeting was informed that a technical problem involving the “Other Income” field in tax returns had been resolved.
The minister also urged shopkeepers to use the newly announced October 15 income-tax filing extension. According to APP and Radio Pakistan, he warned of escalating penalties for missing applicable deadlines.
The simplified scheme is intended to reduce compliance complexity for eligible small retailers while encouraging more businesses to register.
Mapping shops is an administrative step, not proof that every business visited owes additional tax.
The outcome will depend on whether officials can explain the rules clearly, resolve technical issues and apply requirements consistently.
Further review meetings were planned to monitor the scheme’s implementation.