ISLAMABAD: After the end of foreign and local assets declaration tax amnesty scheme, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has started preparations with full capacity to serve notices on the new taxpayers about their declarations.
In this regard, data of the new taxpayers is being scrutinized and almost 50, 000 people who have declared their domestic and foreign assets will be served with notices by the August 15.
A source at FBR told Customs Today that the notices would seek information from the declarants about the actual nature and status of their declared assets because people were not very much clear about actual assets against whose declaration they had deposited money.
For example, the source said that some people deposited the money with the FBR against their assumed income in next two years but at current rate and not at the rate of future income tax rate which was far lesser than the future rate.
Therefore, the source said that concerned officials of the FBR were also required to be more vigilant that no one would be able to adjust currently deposited money against future income. In this regard, FBR’s investigation and intelligence wings are required to be further improved to search for new horizons for dragging more and more revenue from the taxpayers.
In this regard, the source said that the upcoming government would be suggested to grant FBR powers to carry out raids at the houses of the people to dig out illegal money pooled in their houses. In India, the tax authorities enjoy these powers.
“The necessity of recommendation is just because of the fact that business tycoons and people dealing with millions of rupees on daily basis have started keeping both the local and foreign currency and gold at their houses after the imposition of withholding tax on bank transactions,” the source said, adding that such practices were disastrous for the national economy.
Therefore, the source said that FBR should be granted powers like Indian tax authorities to conduct search operations at suspected houses where huge amounts of foreign and local currencies might be piled. At present FBR has powers to conduct raids at business centers to dig out piled illegal money.
