The government has decided to register prize bonds of all denominationsworth US$7 billion as a policy decision after expiry of registration datefor Rs 40,000 Prize Bonds (Bearer) on March 31, 2020.
Senior officials at the Ministry of Finance told ProPakistani that thegovernment has set a tentative timeline of end-December 2020 for theregistration of all prize bonds having different denominations.
This means that when all other prize bonds are registered with thegovernment, the holders of the bonds have to declare his/her computerizednational identity card number (CNIC) to the government. Thus, only holdersof the registered bonds would be valid for participating in draws andencashments etc.
The withholding tax (15 percent) would be deducted on the winning prizebonds and required to be disclosed in the annual income tax return filer ofthe winner. Moreover, the trading of such prize bonds in the open marketswould not be possible after registration of all prize bonds.
Senior officials at the Ministry of Finance told ProPakistani that theFinance Division has decided to convert all bearer prize bonds into theregistered instruments through biometric identity verification and theSecurities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has already issued anotification on the establishment of the secured transactions collateralregistry to enhance SME access to finance.
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The registration of all kinds of prize bonds is mainly the responsibilityof the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS).
They said that the registration of prize bonds is important for improvingintegrity of the financial sector and establishment of the securedtransactions registry will help increase credit to SMEs throughsecuritization of moveable property.
