ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue cannot take action against the Pakistanis, who have offshore companies in the Bahamas, it has been learnt.
Sources said that under the income tax laws, the FBR can open cases of tax evasion by a filer for a period of up to five years while in case of a non-filer, the maximum threshold is 10 years. Most of these companies, revealed in the Bahamas Leaks, were registered between 1990 and 2011.
According to the latest documents leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), more than 150 Pakistanis, having offshore companies, have been named in the leaks. In total, the new cache provides names of politicians and others linked to more than 175,000 Bahamian companies.
In April, the ICIJ had leaked documents of Panama law firm, Mosack Fonseca, of companies registered in tax havens. The cache named over 600 Pakistanis. Of them, the FBR had identified 444 persons so far. Among them, 150 persons owned over 600 companies in Pakistan, tax authorities have yet to take any meaningful action against them.
