ISLAMABAD: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Nisar Muhammad Khan, said that banks would have to share data and information about the account holders after Pakistan signs agreement with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Due course on debate in the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) representatives were of the viewpoint that banks were ready to share information of account holders with tax authorities but not ready to share data of account holders beyond information.
“Once, we sign agreement with OECD, all the banks will be bound to share data of account holders not only with FBR but also the tax authorities of OECD member countries” Nisar Muhammad Khan said in a brief chat with reporters after the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.
OECD is an Intergovernmental economic organization and it is a forum of countries describing themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common problems, identify good practices and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members. Most OECD members are high income economies with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) and are regarded as developed countries.
Nisar Muhammad Khan went on saying that presently, Banks were reluctant in sharing the information related to funds transactions made by the account holders with tax authorities and this reluctance hampered the tax collectors’ successful operations in nabbing the tax defaulters.
According to FBR Member Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, OECD members could culminate in formal agreements by countries, for example on combating bribery, on arrangements for export credits, or on the treatment of capital movements.
Similarly, member countries can produce standards and models for the application of bilateral treaties on taxation, or recommendations, for example on cross-border co-operation in enforcing laws against spam. They may also result in guidelines, for example on corporate governance or environmental practices” he added.
