Karachi: Commercial banks across the country will now be required to share the details of financial transactions (recorded during the first half of FY 2019-20) with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by the end of the current month (January) – under an agreement signed between the taxation agency and the Pakistan Bankers Association (PBA) on November 27, 2019, according to news sources.
The
two institutions had announced their decision to check suspected undocumented
money trails circulating through banking channels. Under this agreement, the
tax authorities will have access to real time transactions made through the
banks. Moreover, details of accountholders (national identity card number, name
and addresses) and their cash withdrawals, deposits and credit/ debit card
transactions information will also be provided to the FBR.
According to the officials at Karachi’s Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), FBR will be able to detect large number of potential taxpayers, while sifting through this data. They added that banking transactions’ volume has increased multi-fold during the last few years.
The State Bank of Pakistan
(SBP)’s payment system review shows that transactions made during FY 2018-2019
accumulated to PKR 603 trillion, as compared with PKR 559 trillion transaction
sum of the preceding year, overall showing a spike of 8%.
Previously, the FBR has launched
provisions regarding information of payments made electronically; considering
the increase in credit/ debit card transactions.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
