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FBR gets details of immovable properties of Pakistanis in UK

By Mehtab Haider
July 17, 2018

ISLAMABAD: With expectations to generate tax in the range of Rs200 to 300 billion through the ongoing amnesty scheme, the FBR on Monday made a clever move by announcing that they have obtained the information of immovable properties owned by Pakistanis in the United Kingdom (UK) with the assistance of Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the UK Tax Authorities.

“ We have obtained information of thousands of Pakistanis owning immoveable properties in the UK and if they did not avail this amnesty scheme, then the FBR will use the long arm of law to undertake stern action against them after the expiry of the amnesty scheme,” a top FBR source told The News here on Monday. According to FBR sources, the amnesty scheme on domestic and foreign assets has fetched Rs 62 billion and Rs36 billion respectively so far. Keeping this in view, the FBR is making last ditch efforts to lure the Pakistanis based overseas to declare their immoveable assets.

“Under confidentiality clauses, we cannot disclose exact numbers and details of the obtained information from the UK Tax authorities under the OECD mechanism,” said Dr Iqbal, FBR’s spokesman, while talking to The News here on Monday. However, the sources said if confidentiality clauses are breached, then the FBR would not be able to get any future information so the tax authorities have ensured security and foolproof arrangements to protect the information from any leaks. Within the top management of the FBR, this issue was deliberated as to whether this information should be shared with the media but finally the newly-appointed Chairperson in FBR Rukhsana Yasmeen took the decision to release a brief statement about obtaining information on immoveable properties owned by Pakistanis in the UK under the OECD mechanism. “It aims at making the amnesty scheme on declaration of foreign assets successful,” said the official sources.

The FBR has placed standardized software for receiving first batch of thousands of cases of Pakistanis through automatic exchange portal from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to seek financial data of assets and bank accounts abroad with effect from October 1, 2018. The FBR has placed software with the grant of UK based Department for International Development (DFID) for receiving information through automatic exchange portal from OECD forum and all the required mechanisms were in place to use the information against those who would not avail the amnesty scheme for declaration of foreign assets.

The caretaker led government claimed last week that the public response to the scheme was positive as so far 55,225 declarations were filed with a declared value of Rs577 billion, while that of domestic assets is valued around Rs1,192 billion. Those declaring their assets have paid around Rs97 billion out of which around Rs36 billion has been collected on the foreign assets and 61 billion on domestic assets. In addition, $40 million has also been repatriated. This response to the amnesty schemes has been unprecedented.