ISLAMABAD: Negotiations with Switzerland are underway to be involved in a multi-dimensional agreement through which Pakistan will be able to get information of Pakistanis who have stashed money in Swiss accounts.
Federal Board of Revenue Strategic Planning and Reforms, IT Member and Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Iqbal stated this while giving an interview to Customs Today, hoping that Pakistan would become member of this agreement by 2017. Many other countries are also member of this agreement with Switzerland.
Iqbal also revealed that incumbent government has granted permission to sign agreement with Switzerland for getting details of stashed money by Pakistanis. He added that the two former finance ministers did not allow the FBR to do the same in the past.
During the tenure of past government, delaying tactics were adopted for giving permission, he said, adding that former finance ministers named Hafeez Shiekh and Saleem Mandviwala had not allowed the same. Now, the work has been initiated on it under the present government.
Telling about the time duration for finalising the agreement, the member said that it was a time taking matter as it needed lot of considerations and for it permission from the government was necessary. He added that the FBR had to wait for a year for getting permission during the tenure of the past government.
Saying that two to three rounds of talks were required for such agreement, he said first round has been completed in which FBR team visited the Switzerland. Now, a team of Swiss authorities will pay visit to Pakistan for next round of negotiations and correspondence in this regard was underway, he said.
Responding to a query, he said that “It is an agreement about the sharing of information under which both countries can get information about taxpayers of their respective countries. “Existing treaty between Pakistan and Switzerland has limited scope and now we want to enhance it in order to get more information about Pakistanis those who have Swiss accounts,” he said.
The member said that the FBR has started consideration on the suggestions sent by the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and other trade organisations. At first stage, strong suggestions will be selected and sent to the Finance Ministry after reviewing. He made cleared that the only reasonable demands of the business community will be accepted.
The government decided about when to announce the budget, he said, adding that it would be presented in the Parliament before the start of Holy month Ramzan.
The traders have been granted enough time under the Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme (VTCS), he said and suggested that this should be ended now. He said that it was evident no one paid taxes voluntarily but were recovered following the laws.
A friendly relation could be established with taxpayers but the non-taxpayers will only be handled through legal actions. “The FBR is a tax authority and to recover taxes from people who earn millions of rupees is its obligation,” he said. An effective and comprehensive strategy has been adopted for generating revenue, he said, adding that there was hope that FBR could achieve the target this year.
