close
Friday March 29, 2024

Pakistan to access citizens’ past financial details in foreign countries

By Shahnawaz Akhter
February 19, 2017

KARACHI: Pakistan will get an access to historical and current financial details of its citizens who hold more than one million dollars in their overseas bank accounts after the implementation of OECD’s international treaty on tax evasion from July 1, tax officials said on Saturday.

“Under the international treaty the arrangements have been made that member countries will exchange past and present details of persons having bank deposits of above $1 million,” a Federal Board of Revenue official said on condition of anonymity.

In September last year, Pakistan signed the convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to have become the 105th signatory to the treaty for curbing tax evasion. 

The official said the exchange of information between the signatory countries would be restricted to the present details in case of accounts with deposits below the mark of one million dollars.

At present, there are heated debates going on over the offshore accounts and investments, especially in Panama and Switzerland, of Pakistanis. 

The official said after the implementation of treaty all the signatory countries would share the financial details of individuals to prevent the incidences
of tax evasion.  Recently, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued draft rules on common reporting standards for sharing data related to foreigners having bank accounts in Pakistan with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries.

The official said it would be mandatory for Pakistani financial institutions to provide account holders’ data to the Federal Board of Revenue on annual basis by September 30. The data will further be disseminated through an automatic exchange system.

The official said the draft of common reporting standards is almost equal to the standards adopted by any Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s member.

Under the draft of common reporting standards, a financial institution, in case of high value accounts, would provide information, which includes most recent documentary evidence, account opening contract and documentation pursuant to anti-money laundering or know your customer procedures.

A financial institution is also bound to provide data on power of attorney or signature authority forms or according to any standing instructions.