Designated banks to observe extended timings on Dec 31: SBP   

KARACHI: State Bank on Pakistan (SBP) on Monday announced that field offices of its Banking Services Corporation (SBP BSC) and authorized branches of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will observe extended banking hours on 31 December, ARY NEWS reported.

According to a directive issued by the central bank, the arrangement was made to facilitate the collection of the government receipts, duties and taxes.

The field offices of the SBP BSC and authorized branches of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will observe extended banking hours till 9:00 PM on December 31, 2020 (Thursday), for which purpose a special clearing has been arranged at 6:00 PM on the same day by the NIFT.

It said that all banks are, therefore, advised to keep their concerned branches open on December 31, 2020 (Thursday) till such time that is necessary to facilitate the special clearing for government transactions by the NIFT.

It is pertinent to mention here that a similar announcement was made by the SBP on November 29 after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on October 31 advised citizens to file their tax returns by December 8.

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The FBR, in a tweet, warned that it will not extend the deadline for submitting any further. “Taxpayers should submit annual tax returns before December 8, the submission date will not be extended,” said the FBR on Twitter.

The tax body said that it had introduced several steps in order to facilitate filers to file their return with ease.

“The FBR introduced simple tax return form and a user-friendly mobile application for filers to file their income tax returns,” the tax body said in a tweet.