Islamabad: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Inland Revenue (IR) Member Dr Hamid Ateeq recently announced the government authority’s plan to initiate a crackdown against tax evaders starting in the first quarter of 2020, a news source reported. As per the publication, the board has already sent out notices to 200,000 high-net-worth individuals to this effect — and will initiate the clampdown from March 2020 onwards.
Ateeq revealed this information during a meeting of the National Assembly (NA)’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, & Economic Affairs. Other FBR officials in attendance said that they had a list of high-net worth individuals, but that they were not yet taking any action against them because implementing several acts at the same time would negatively impact businesses and the national economy.
FBR officials also stated that according to an agreement with the traders, they had decreased the turnover tax rate from 1.5% to 0.5%. They added that the FBR would increase the limit of annual turnover tax from PKR 10 million to PKR 100 million.
The FBR officials informed the committee that they would initiate proceedings against tax defaulters with the help of data provided by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the banks. They further added that the FBR would begin implementing the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) condition from January 31, 2020, which required traders to submit a copy of their CNIC every time they made a purchase over PKR 50,000.
