ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue investigators have identified 76 non-filers or irregular filers owning offshore companies and foreign assets after appearance of their names in the PanamaLeaks.
Now the tax authorities have directed regional offices all over the country for enforcement of income tax returns and wealth statements in case of alleged tax evasion by these mighty individuals. The law of the land will take its course, said an FBR official.
According to official documents available with The News, the FBR’s investigators cross matched the data of 155 individuals who were directors of 600 companies in Pakistan and their names appeared in the PanamaLeaks. Out of these, 85 individuals were regular tax return filers, 44 irregular filers, 21 non-filers and five filers were under process in the case of total 155 individuals.
When contacted, FBR’s spokesman Dr Iqbal said under the tax laws, the non-filers would have to submit their tax returns. “We have directed the tax offices to ensure filing of income tax returns of all those whose names had appeared in the PanamaLeaks,” he added.
However, the FBR’s analysis of return filers in the PanamaLeaks shows that nine individuals declared having foreign assets of various nature, 14 admitted having foreign sources of income and 20 conceded having both foreign sources of income and assets. Out of
return filers shown in the PanamaLeaks, four individuals declared having foreign bank accounts, three declared having properties and assets and two declared having shares.
The FBR concedes that foreign sources of income were declared by certain individuals. There are four individuals who rendered services/contracts executed outside Pakistan and 10 individuals who declared other foreign income.
Under the process of enforcement/compliance of tax notices issued by the FBR’s Intelligence & Investigation (I&I) Inland Revenues (IR) against individuals named in the PanamaLeaks, the FBR issued reminders where replies were not received to tax notices under Section 176 of the Income Tax Ordinance.
“If response is still not received till the compliance date, penalty notices under Section 182 of the Income Tax Law will be issued,” said a top official of the FBR while talking to The News.
The FBR could impose penalty in case of non-compliance but on resident Pakistanis who are living inside the country. The penalty amount is just peanuts and stands at Rs25,000 for first default and Rs50,000 for each subsequent default.
In case of persistent non-compliance cases, the FBR has the option of filing prosecution proceedings in the trial court and the tax machinery could explore this option.
In case of undelivered tax notices, the FBR can send them notices through special messengers of local directorates.
