Those on FBR notice can benefit from Amnesty Scheme

ISLAMABAD: All those who are in litigation with the FBR cannot avail themselves of the Tax Amnesty Scheme; however, those who have received notices from the revenue board can benefit from this scheme.

The government is trying to find a way for those whose cases are in the court so that they could benefit from this scheme, says Miftah Ismail, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs.

Talking to The News, the adviser said that the government could get direction from the courts regarding the pending cases. Hopefully, the courts will give directions that the litigants could also avail themselves of the tax amnesty scheme.

The adviser agreed that increasing the tax slab from Rs600,000 to Rs1,200,000 no doubt would result in shortage of revenue collection. According to him, the FBR would face Rs90 billion deficit in revenue collection after this proposal. However, he said this shortfall is in terms of accounting but at the end of the day the government would be the beneficiary of this scheme.

“Though in terms of accounting, the government is in loss but in terms of economics, the government is the beneficiary even after the tax exempt amount is increased from Rs600,000 to Rs1,200,000. Those 90 billion rupees would ultimately be spent in the market and a huge chunk of money will come into national kitty in the form of income tax”, remarked the adviser.

Majority of the direct taxpayers are from salaried class and by increasing the tax slab would no doubt result in shortage of tax collection. However, apart from salaried class, there is another class whom they call “self-employeed” which is still not in the tax net. Those who are earning Rs200,000 a month can easily pay 5 percent of their annual income which is not a big issue for them to whiten their money. Inclusion of this class into the tax net would be a great achievement for the government, he said.

“Most of the Pakistanis have parked their wealth in the real estate sector. We have simplified the process through this tax amnesty scheme for such people. We have offered them through this scheme to come and get register your property by paying only one percent tax. We have made it compulsory that the non-filers would be unable to purchase property above Rs4 million. Through this scheme we have offered them to come and register them. Through this scheme the government could buy anyone’s property in double rates within the time period of six months. This will force the property owners to declare right prices of their property”, commented Miftah.

To a question about what the government’s expectation is regarding net inflows into Pakistan, Miftah said honestly speaking they are not expecting much but they believe that the bond will sell. “We are expecting that a great number of people will declare their properties and the tax net would also be broadened through this scheme,” he said.

He further said the government will ensure the secrecy of all those who will avail themselves of the tax amnesty scheme and they will be protected. The government has made sure no government agency will question them including the NAB.

When asked whether the tax amnesty scheme would be tabled as a separate bill before Parliament or it would be a part of federal budget to get Parliament’s approval. The adviser said the tax amnesty scheme would be tabled as a separate bill however some parts of it would be added in the budget documents.