Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided not to impose any withholding tax (WHT) on the withdrawal of remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis, a news source reported. Remittances sent through banking channels will not be charged with any additional taxes.
A new policy is being drafted by the board for the purpose. It will be prepared within the next seven days. According to reports, the PM Office had redirected FBR to review the existing policy. The FBR body, after formulating the policy, will send it to the PM for inspection.
At present, banks deduct taxes when remittances are withdrawn by family members of overseas Pakistanis. These people are generally non-filers, because they do not usually have a taxable income of their own. As a result, they are forced to pay around 0.6% of the amount drawn in WHT taxes.
Overseas Pakistanis have reported facing a lot of issues because of this matter. Moreover, bank exchange rates are usually lower than market rates, and so they cause further monetary losses to recipients.
The PM had taken notice of the situation in a letter to the FBR. He had directed for the issue to be resolved within 21 days.
