KARACHI: Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to take back changes it made into the tax amnesty declaration forms approved by the parliament.
The PTBA, in a letter sent to FBR Chairman, said tax amnesty declaration forms available on the online portal of the FBR are not in accordance with the law passed by the parliament.
PTBA President Abdul Qadir said tax bars across the country are promoting the tax amnesty schemes across the country to create documentation of the economy and raise more taxes for the development.
The government introduced Foreign Assets Declaration and Repatriation Act, 2018 and Voluntary Declaration of Domestic Assets Act, 2018 to increase number of tax return filers to 30 million from the present 1.3 million.
Government announced tax amnesty scheme to give residents one-off tax benefits for repatriating undeclared local liquid assets with a five percent penalty, undeclared foreign liquid assets with a two percent penalty (if repatriated, or a five percent penalty if remaining abroad or in foreign currencies), and undeclared fixed assets – whether held locally or abroad – with a three percent penalty.
Memon said a number of bar’s members complained that forms available on the FBR’s website for declaration of both foreign and local assets are not in accordance with the declaration forms introduced through both the Acts.
The bar said the declaration has to be filed as per the Form-A, and the details of foreign assets are to be given in accordance with the format provided in Form-B. Similarly, the domestic assets to be declared by the declarant are to be provided in accordance with format provided in Form – A.