Tax administrator National Board of Revenue (NBR) has moved to list Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to boost revenue earnings.
Under the move, it will collect details about the both registered and non-registered NGOs sprawling across the country for imposing tax on their income.
The NBR has taken the decision to bring NGOs under its tax net in its recent board meeting as the tax collection from the NGOs remained very poor over the years, said a high official in the revenue board.
He said stringent monitoring on the NGOs’ activities will increase revenue from the sector, which is very potential.
The NBR is now desperate for identifying new and potential revenue earning sectors rather than imposing higher tax on the existing taxpayers as part of its strategy for boosting revenue earnings.
Currently, the operating income of the NGOs registered with NGO Affairs Bureau are exempted from tax. But paying income tax on their non-operating incomes is mandatory for them.
According to the revenue rules, NGOs have to pay tax on their non-operating income at individual taxpayers rate which varies from 10% to 35%.
The NGO Affairs Bureau data shows that only around 500 out of nearly 2,500 NGOs registered with the Bureau have taxpayers identification number.