FBR shuts down unit tracing undisclosed foreign assets after UAE refuses to share data

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has quietly closed its specialized Offshore Properties Wing, a unit established to trace and tax undisclosed foreign assets held by Pakistani residents.

The wing was formed in the wake of global financial disclosures such as the Dubai Leaks, which revealed that many Pakistani nationals owned high-value real estate abroad. To spearhead the initiative, the FBR had appointed senior Inland Revenue Service officer Rabia Yaser Durrani as Chief Offshore Properties.

However, the effort suffered a major setback when the United Arab Emirates declined to share detailed ownership data of Pakistani nationals named in the Dubai leaks. The lack of cooperation significantly hampered the wing’s ability to pursue cases effectively.

Officials familiar with the matter indicated that without access to verified foreign data, the unit’s operations became largely redundant, leading to its eventual closure.

The Offshore Properties Wing was tasked with a wide ranging mandate aimed at improving transparency and compliance. Its core functions included collecting and analyzing data on offshore properties owned by Pakistanis, Coordinating with AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) zones for tax assessments, Handling jurisdictional transfers of offshore property cases, Liaising with international bodies, foreign governments, and domestic agencies, Monitoring progress on investigations and evaluating performance and representing Pakistan in meetings related to offshore asset tracking

The initiative was seen as a critical step toward strengthening Pakistan’s participation in global tax transparency frameworks, particularly under the OECD’s AEOI regime.

The shutdown raises questions about Pakistan’s capacity to independently investigate offshore wealth and enforce tax compliance in the absence of robust international cooperation. Experts note that while frameworks like AEOI exist, their effectiveness depends heavily on mutual data sharing between jurisdictions.

For now, the closure of the Offshore Properties Wing marks a pause if not a setback in Pakistan’s efforts to bring undisclosed foreign assets into the tax net.