FBR empowers officials toscrutinise suspected accounts, conduct raids

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday empowered the Direcotrate of Intelligence and Investigation of Inland Revenue to scrutinise suspected bank accounts and conduct raids to track and recover black money and sources of terror financing.
The department’s apex body—FBR — has sent a comprehensive guidelines in an SRO 115(I)/2015, and the director general of I&I IR has been empowered to investigation suspicious transactions reports or other assets impounded by any agency under federal or provincial governments.
The DG on the basis of investigation has been required to prepare reports and transmit to Large Taxpayers Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) for invoking Section 111 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, which explains the undeclared income by persons, the SRO said.
The director general of the IR Intelligence has been give powers equivalent to the chief commissioner or commissioner of IR. The IR Intelligence with the empowerment now able to obtain taxpayers/non-taxpayers record, can enter and search premises and can serve notices for information or evidence besides monitoring the proceedings of audit. However, selection of audit cases is not under mandate of the DG.
The FBR has instructed all the customs officers, officers of provincial excise and taxation, district coordination officers, district officers, police and civil armed forces to provide assistance to initiatives of DG I&I IR.
“The DG has jurisdiction over persons or classes of persons carrying on business or residing in areas, within the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan,” the SRO said.
The latest notification also empowered the IR Intelligence to obtain information regarding exempt income from individual and corporate entities. Besides, the DG has been authorized to exercise the powers of commissioner appeals.
The director general now has powers of invoke Section 182 of the Ordinance regarding the offences and penalties and exercise prosecution for non-compliance against taxpayers and convict with a fine or imprisonment not exceeding one year.
Sources in the Directorate Intelligence IR, Karachi said that the office was facing difficulties in pursuing various cases due to insufficient powers conferred upon the directorate. An official on condition not to be named said that the directorate had signed an agreement with Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) under with the agency would provide assistance on request of the directorate.
Karachi Directorate has initiated several cases of suspicious transactions and tax evasion besides sales tax refunds on fake and flying invoices. Recently, it also detected suspicious transactions in the stock market and referred to concerned tax department for further proceedings.
Under the latest notification, Directors of I&I IR at Headquarter Islamabad will have the similar powers in those cases that are assigned by the DG.
The directors at regional stations will have powers other than investigating suspicious transactions but they have powers to select cases for tax audits.
Other officers of the directorate at the level of additional directors and deputy/assistant directors have also been authorized limited powers.
Similar powers have been delegated to the directorate under the Sales Tax Act, 1990 and the Federal Excise Act, 2005 through SRO 116 and 117 issued on the same day subject to such limitations and restrictions under the law.