ISLAMABAD: Regional Tax Officers hailing from twin cities Large Taxpayers’ Unit Islamabad and Rawalpindi, were briefed about the procedures likely to be followed for the execution of mega tax amnesty scheme for real estate sector.
In this regard, a well placed source at FBR told Customs Today that a briefing session for the RTOs and other officials was arranged here at Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Headquarters. Chairman FBR Nisar Muhammad Khan along with his lead team members including, Member Inland Revenue Policy Rehmatullah Khan Wazir, Member Inland Operations Dr. Muhammad Irshad and Dr Muhammad Iqbal gave detailed briefing to the officers about different aspects of the scheme.
Last Wednesday, the National Assembly approved a mega tax amnesty scheme for real estate sector that would approve whitening of black money invested in the sector by paying only three per cent tax. The lower house of the parliament gave approval to Income Tax Amendment Bill 2016, which would whiten an estimated Rs7 trillion of black money invested in the sector.
Earlier, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) opposed the bill during the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue. It is pertinent to mention here that the government had introduced amendments in the Income Tax Ordinance to collect taxes on property transactions. However, due to the resistance from the real estate sector, the government promulgated an ordinance with consensus of property dealers and introduced fair market value.
A day earlier, President Mamnoon Hussain also gave assent to the Income Tax Amendment Act 2016 to grant legal cover to an amnesty scheme that would allow property owners to whiten money parked in the real estate sector on payment of three per cent tax. The president signed the third such scheme to be promulgated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government since 2013.
The source said that besides the briefing about the different aspect of the said scheme, the questions asked by the participants of the session were also responded by the top FBR team to address their reservations. These reservations have been hot topic of discussions among the FBR officials since the promulgation of the said bill in the parliament as well as due course of deliberations at the level of standing committees.
