The National Board of Revenue has taken a move to finalise the draft of the new Income Tax Act-2020 by this month to expedite introduction of the new law.

Officials said that the major objectives of the new law were to incorporate the international best practices, make the law understandable to taxpayers, simplify the procedures and narrow the scope of tax evasion and avoidance using loopholes in the law. The basic structure of the existing provisions of the ordinance will not be changed, they said.

They said that emerging business dimensions and international taxation issues such as general anti‑avoidance rules, special anti-avoidance rules and thin capitalisation, transfer pricing, digitisation of tax system, minimising the scope of tax exemption and narrowing existing mismatches in the rules and regulations would be given priority in the new law.

The NBR may unveil the draft law for public opinion on its web site before moving forward for vetting and getting the cabinet’s approval.

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