NA Finance panel backs centralised banking data repository for tax enforcement

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenues has proposed allowing the State Bank of Pakistan to establish, operate and maintain a secure centralised virtual repository of banking data to support tax enforcement.

The repository will include information, records and financial transactions of persons maintained by scheduled banks on the basis of unique identifiers, as prescribed by the Board.

The State Bank of Pakistan may collect and provide data and results under the proposed clauses.

The committee has also proposed penalties for defaults.

A penalty of Rs500,000 will apply for the first default, while Rs1 million will be imposed for every subsequent default.

The penalty will apply to the principal officer as defined in Clause (44A) of Section 2 of the Act, the chief executive officer of a company, a member in case of an association of persons, and an individual in case of sole proprietorship.