ISLAMABAD – Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ringed the alarm bells forthose Pakistanis having undeclared or illegal assets in United ArabEmirates or elsewhere in the World.
FBR is mulling action against the individuals having expensive propertiesor earning rental income in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it was learnt.
The UAE authorities have agreed to share classified information pertainingto the Pakistanis having expensive properties or earning rental incomeespecially in Dubai, sources said.
Therefore, FBR has now rolled up sleeves to serve notices to theindividuals soon after getting information, which was expected to bereceived in next few weeks, sources maintained. “Presently, the exerciseagainst the individuals having properties or earning rental income in theUnited Kingdom (UK) is in full swing”.
Dismissing the impression to withhold all proceedings related to theundeclared immoveable properties abroad till the formation of newly electedgovernment, sources said Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, commonly knownas HMRC has shared classified information pertaining to the Pakistanishaving properties or earning rental income in UK under the exchange ofinformation treaty and the notices against the information were beingserved to the individuals.
“This is the first time when such classified information including propertydetails in UK, the addresses and the telephone numbers of the individualsin Pakistan and information about rental income have been shared with FBR,”sources replied.Talking about the reliability of information shared by the HMRC, sourcessaid 90 percent of notices were received by pertinent individuals inKarachi.
“Although they are given 15 days to respond against the notices, the taxdepartment has started receiving queries. “Majority of the inquirershaven’t availed tax amnesty scheme and there are also substantial number ofindividuals, who are said to be students in UK and the properties owned bythem have been bought by their parents,” sources said.
They answered that this time, no mercy would hopefully be shown towards theindividuals having undeclared properties abroad by upcoming electedgovernment in order to ease the pressure of Financial Action Task Force(FATF).