ISLAMABAD: Starting Monday, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) commences issuing notices to the Pakistanis who were known to have purchased various properties in the United Kingdom.
Around 1,000 Pakistanis are under the scanner and likely to to be served with notices, the details of whom had been obtained from the UK tax authorities.
In an official statement by the FBR chairperson Rukhsana Yasmin, the Bureau issued has embarked on the process of issuing notices to those Pakistani known to be purchasers of properties in the UK and also receiving rent on it.
By its own admission, for the moment the FBR has neither specific details nor any clue about the total sums invested by Pakistanis in the UK in real estate.
The notices, the statement said, were being served on those who did not take the benefit of the July 31-expired tax amnesty scheme for whitening black money.
Another 500 people would also be served similar notices for buying properties in the UAE emirate of Dubai.
The FBR would also look into the tax details whether these buyers were filers of income tax returns or not, and also whether they owned properties in Pakistan or not.
For the uninitiated, Pakistan is a signatory to the OECD Multilateral Convention, a treaty meant to provide from September 2018 onwards access to information about offshore accounts. This would augment in a significant way the FBR’s capacity to access information with regards to offshore financial accounts of Pakistanis in signatory countries.
“Under this convention, we will receive further information regarding account details of Pakistanis from September onwards from many countries including the UK,” said the FBR official.
A similar process shall be resorted to with regard to the Pakistani properties and assets in Dubai, said the official. For its part, the director of intelligence and investigation has also collected data of assets and properties owned by certain individuals and has already wisened the regional tax offices about the data.
The incoming PTI government is committed to bringing back to the country assets parked abroad, particularly those in the UK and the UAE.
