ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received only two replies of the notices it issued to 110 individuals allegedly named in Bahamas Leaks.
The revenue authority issued tax notices to 110 individuals out of 150 people named in the mentioned leaks under Section 176 of the Income Tax Ordinance.
The FBR has said that the information about the jurisdiction of offshore companies is not disclosed in Bahamas Leaks data. The FBR is making all out efforts to track down the addresses in 40 cases but so far no success has been achieved.
In the case of Panama Leaks, there were 270 offshore companies owned by 444 individuals, which were registered at different nine tax havens.
The FBR received a total 133 responses out of 340 individuals in the Panama Leaks case under Section 176 of the Income Tax Ordinance. 57 individuals out of the total 133 responses received by the FBR sought adjournment, 19 admitted having offshore companies, 24 refused accusation, 12 gave miscellaneous replies, eight individuals died and 13 provided information.
Under miscellaneous reasons in responses given by 12 individuals in case of Panama Leaks, some had challenged the jurisdiction of Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) Inland Revenues as the government had assigned this FBR’s agency to probe Panama and Bahamas leaks. Some had given the argument that individuals were non-residents and some had denied having names in ICIJ/Panama Leaks.
