ISLAMABAD - In a setback, United Arab Emirates government not cooperating with Pakistan over the Pakistani Iqama holders information, Media Report has revealed citing government sources
It has been reported that the federal government is facing difficulty in getting access to any actionable bank account information of Pakistani tax residents allegedly hiding behind Iqama (work permit).
This was disclosed by Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Shabbar Zaidi during a meeting of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.
“The UAE is a serious problem and is not giving data to Pakistan,” he said and added that the UAE authorities interpret Iqama holders as residents and do not provide access to their data.
“Our interpretation is that Iqama is not residency but a work permit,” he added.
Zaidi further said,
We wrote a letter to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) whose response was that it does not agree with the UAE interpretation of Iqama and would pursue the matter.