FBR to look into new taxpayers’ bank accounts: Ishaq Dar KARACHI: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday categorically said only the top officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will access the bank accounts of depositors to detect revenue leakages. “The FBR chairman and members will access the banking accounts of new taxpayers,” said Dar while talking to the media after meeting business leaders at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). The government in budget 2013-14 has inducted Section 165 in its subsections to the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, regarding access to banking transactions. The changes, however, have been criticised by the business community and bankers who were lobbying to at least make the amendments inactive for the next few years. The finance minister’s statement, however, made it clear that the government was not considering deferring the changes. Dar said the bank accounts of new taxpayers identified by the FBR would only be accessed and existing/compliant taxpayers would not be part of this exercise. Regarding the Income Tax Levy, the minister said the contribution by taxpayers would go to a special account that would be used for the social safety net. “Through the levy of 0.5 percent about 24 million will benefit,” he said, adding that the government had allocated Rs60 billion under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). About his meeting with the FPCCI leaders, the minister said procedural matters were discussed to resolve taxation issues. “A committee comprising members from the FPCCI and the FBR will give recommendations in the next 10 days,” he said. Earlier in the meeting, the FPCCI told the finance minister that access to banking information was a harsh measure and it should be withdrawn or kept in abeyance. The minister was informed that it would erode the confidence of depositors and motivate them to withdraw funds from banks on the one hand and discourage the government efforts of documentation of the economy on the other. A businessman said though the finance minister had announced accessing the accounts of only new taxpayers, the law approved by parliament had not defined the category of taxpayers. “It seems the authorities will issue a clarification in this regard,” the businessman said. The business community also pointed out the issues of stuck refunds and cumbersome sales tax registration procedures because most of changes in the federal budget had been introduced to encourage sales tax registration. It was decided that the FBR would make the procedure easy for sales tax registration. The FBR chairman informed the meeting that about Rs6 billion refunds were issued during July 2013. A statement issued by the FPCCI quoting the finance minister said misuse of bank account access would be heavily penalised. “This provision is only meant for the new assessees who travel abroad frequently in first class and whose children study in expensive schools, but do not pay taxes,” the statement quoted the finance minister as saying. Dar said 10,000 notices had been issued to potential taxpayers with a view to broadening the tax base.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 18:40:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015