FBR to get data about 3,500 high-profile tax dodgers

ISLAMABAD: The FBR has assigned Nadra to share with it data of 3,500 high-profile tax dodgers.

Now the Nadra is going to share the data of almost 3,500 rich individuals who travel abroad frequently, possess foreign currency accounts, have multiple bank accounts with hefty deposits, own a number of vehicles registered under their names and plots in different housing societies and other information but they are not in the tax net.

“The authority is working on a huge volume of profiles. We will get the sample data of 3,500 profiles to check correctness and integrity of their workings next week. So, the FBR will check the effectiveness of tax profiles. The authority is running the algorithms to determine indicative income and tax liability,” official sources in the FBR told The News in background discussions here Saturday.

Under the Finance Act 2022, the FBR and Nadra have been empowered to exchange information to expand the narrowed tax base.

It is relevant to mention that such efforts had also been made in the past but they failed to give desired results. There is one difference now i.e. the exchange of data will be the result of a law approved by parliament. However, tax officials who had worked along with Nadra in the past told this scribe that there could be a variety of reasons for an individual case for ascertaining anyone’s lifestyle on the basis of which his or her tax liability could be determined. For instance, someone might have income from agriculture or remittances. However, they agreed that Nadra’s profiles could be utilised as one of the sources to expand the narrowed tax base.

On the other hand, the FBR has been facing problems to convert information it has into taxability under the existing law of the land. Certain people are earning lofty incomes but they have never bothered to come into the tax net. When contacted, Nadra Chairman Tariq Malik said that they had explained their work on broadening of tax net using modern digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analytics and predictive analysis to the minister and FBR chairman.

Minister of State for Finance and Revenues Aisha Ghous Pasha said the government was exploring all options to expand the narrowed tax base, as it wanted to reduce reliance on withholding taxes and moving towards increasing filers of tax returns and payment of their tax liabilities. She said that it was just the beginning.