Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), through a Facebook notification, recently refuted the reports alleging that the Pakistan and United Kingdom (UK) tax authorities were at odds — with the authority referring to the concerns raised regarding Pakistan’s losing capacity to nab tax evading multi-national companies.
As per the authority’s notification, the FBR and its UK Counterpart HMRC enjoy cordial relations. The two authorities are also currently in discussions to start a new programme that will further boost the Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) initiative.
In addition, the two government agencies have been partnered since 2014, and have used this longstanding partnership to expand a small capacity building programme to international levels. This includes access to the technical expertise offered by the TIWB and the World Customs Organisation.
The notification further revealed that the last TIWB mission came to Pakistan in October last year, and subsequently stopped because of the coronavirus pandemic — not because of some legal or administrative issues.
Similarly, Pakistan is a signatory of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance that is aimed at allowing for automatic exchange of information. As Pakistan is an active member of the convention, the automatic exchange of information has been proceeding without any hurdles.
