Senate panel advises to loosen curbs on non-filers in car, property purchases

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Monday advised the government to loosen curbs on non-filers of income tax from procurement of new vehicles and property.

The parliamentary panel also sought to double the tax-free limit of cash withdrawal from banks to Rs100,000 a day, reported Express Tribune.

The senate panel approved the government’s suggestion to reduce the reporting requirements for commercial banks in lieu of requiring information about depositors.

The panel is being headed by PPP Senator Farooq H Naek. The parliamentary conditionally supported the authority’s recommendations to enforce new limitations on the acquisition of property and vehicles by non-filers of income tax returns.

According to the recommendations included in the budget for the next financial year 2018-19, non-filers of income tax will not be permitted to acquire these above-mentioned assets from July 1^st, 2018.

But the parliamentary panel suggested non-filers of income tax returns ought to be given permission for buying or importing cars up to 1,000cc with the target to assist the middle-income group.

It proposed non-filers of income tax returns should be permitted to procure residential homes and plots of 10 marla size.

PTI Senator, Mohsin Aziz felicitating the recommendations said it was a positive move and would widen the tax base, but the authority’s limitations were too harsh.

And the governments' recommendation to get the right to buy the property first if declared below its market value was rebuffed by the Senate panel.

It suggested the government to raise the ceiling of tax-free cash withdrawal limit from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 a day.

And the Senate Standing Committee on Finance backed the FBR’s recommendations of decreasing reporting requirements for commercial banks.

The tax regulator recommended against the existing requirement of reporting all banking transactions over Rs1 million, it has sought the ceiling to be lifted up to Rs10 million.

As per this recommendation, if approved, banks would no longer require providing online access to the tax regulator.

Also, banks wouldn’t any longer need to submit Suspicious Transactions Reports and loans write-off data to the tax regulator.

The tax watchdog has recommended refusing filers withholding tax rates to those individuals who file their tax returns after the final due date, which also got an endorsement from the Senate panel.