Pakistanis’ properties in Dubai: Pakistan couldn’t get actionable info

ISLAMABAD: Tax authorities have received details of 50,000 Pakistanis owning foreign bank accounts under the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) mechanism and now it would become impossible for anyone to hide foreign accounts.

While briefing a select group of reporters by the FBR’s Member Inland Revenue Service (Operation) and Member IRS Policy here on Wednesday, the tax authorities said the FBR could not get any such information about those owning properties in Dubai on the basis of which they could launch any operation against them. Without mentioning the name of one sugar mill located in the Punjab, they said the FBR took action against sugar mill and recovered due taxes of over Rs450 million. In another sugar mill, the production was showed less to the tune of 125,000 bags of sugar in a bid to evade taxes, they added.

“We have taken action against certain firms under Section 40-B of Sales Tax Act for recovery of taxes,” they said. The FBR, they stated, was facing shortfall of Rs158 billion in first six months of the current fiscal year and main cause of shortfall was slashing down of government’s spending. The previous government granted exemption of income ceiling up to Rs1.2 million that also caused tax shortfall in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The suspension of withholding tax on mobile usage also resulted into shortfall in achieving the tax collection target. The government slapped ban on purchasing plots and cars on non-filers that also caused revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year. Only the suspension of WHT on mobile usage caused Rs25 billion loss to the national exchequer.

The government’s decision to keep GST on POL products on lower side in first six months caused revenue loss of Rs42 billion to the national kitty, however, the government raised GST rate to the standard level of 17 percent with effect from January 1, 2019.

The reduction in GST on cement and fertilizer also caused revenue loss of Rs5.5 billion during the current fiscal year. The FBR collected Rs1,894 billion in first half of the current fiscal, against the desired target of Rs2,052 billion.