LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to immediately withdraw SRO 115(I) 2014 that would lead to flight of capital from the country.
LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari stated that the SRO (Statutory Regulatory Order) would compel the businessmen to stay away from banks or maintain accounts out of this country. As per the SRO 115(I) 2014, he explained, the banks were bound under section 165A of the Income Tax Ordinance to share with FBR the non-NTN (National Tax Number) holders’ monthly statements of deposit, credit card payment and currency and suspicious transactions. Moreover, the rule obliges every bank to furnish to FBR an annual statement of written-off loan exceeding one million rupees.
Lashari observed that this step would create problems not only for accountholders but also for the banks as people whose accounts information was being shared with the FBR, would prefer to stay away from banks.