Tag: FBR

  • FBR serves Rs13 million notice to popular Pakistani Youtube prankster

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has sent a Rs13 million tax notice to Pakistani YouTuber Nadir Ali, who runs a channel called “P4 Pakao”, a private media outlet has reported.

    Nadir’s videos show him and his team pulling pranks on unsuspecting people and attract a lot of internet traffic. The combined views of his channel are over 820 million, making his channel one of the largest in the country.

    According to reports, tax authorities suspected him of concealing his income and subsequently launched an investigation against him, and their suspicions were confirmed when they contacted YouTube to learn about his actual income.

    Reportedly, Nadir received more than Rs10 million in foreign exchange during the year on which exemption was claimed without furnishing proof to the tax department and at the same time, he maintained a bank account, which he did not declare in the wealth statement.

    The report also quoted tax officials as saying that the YouTuber was served a number of notices during the course of the investigation but he did not respond to any of them and now he has the option to appeal the order before a commission in Karachi.

    Nadir also spoke to the media outlet through his lawyer and denied having not responded to the FBR. “We received their notice and responded in person. We later applied for an extension in the time to file a response and our application was approved. We are now working to resolve this through all proper ­channels,” he added.

  • FBR to regulate real estate, jewellers trade to comply with FATF agenda

    FBR to regulate real estate, jewellers trade to comply with FATF agenda

    The investigation against money laundering now extends to real estate, gold, gems, and jewellery, as the federal board of revenue is making new rules to stop the financing of terrorism and money laundering in these areas, DAWN reported

    What does this mean?

    Jewellers will have to document and record the value of their sales and the information will be shared with the FBR. Any suspicious transactions such as buying of selling of gold and precious stones will also have to be reported. Jewellers will also submit a ‘special return form’ with their data. 30,000 jewellers will be recorded by the FBR.

    READ MORE: Study reveals: Excessive smartphone usage affects brain like drugs

    Law division and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) will also monitor services provided by lawyers and chartered accountants.

    “We have sent these rules to the law division for vetting,” FBR spokesperson and Member Policy Dr Hamid Ateeq confirmed. After vetting, he said, the rules would be notified for implementation.

    These rules will also apply to housing authorities and sub-registrar offices for real estate. Property agents will not be covered under these rules.

    The reason for these new regulations is because Pakistan needs to implement new Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rules.The implementations of these rules will help Pakistan get off the FATF grey list.

    FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by June 2020.

    READ MORE: As Delhi burns, Gurdwaras open doors to Muslims fleeing violence

  • Indefinite leave for FBR chief Shabbar Zaidi

    Indefinite leave for FBR chief Shabbar Zaidi

    Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi is on indefinite leave and has not joined the office, sending an application in this regard to Advisor on Finance to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, The Express Tribune reported.

    Read more: Imran’s ‘blue-eyed’ Shabbar Zaidi resigns as FBR chairman?

    The FBR chief is sick since January 9, has excused himself from working, and also informed the PM in this regard, reports said.

    Zaidi’s leave had expired on February 14, and he was supposed to join office on Feb 17, but did not. In his absence, FBR Acting Chairman Nausheen Javed Amjad has been handling the affairs of the bureau. 

    Read more: Pakistan has a cure for coronavirus and Chinese can’t stop thanking for it

    According to the report, Zaidi said that his health was not good and he would follow his doctors’ advice.

    On the other hand, the PM’s aide on finance said that if Zaidi could not continue with his work as the FBR chairman owing to ill-health, a new chairman would be appointed after consultations.

  • Inflation: PM seeks ISI, other agencies’ help

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has sought the help of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to present monitoring reports regularly, as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan directs for a large-scale crackdown on smuggling of edibles and other commodities, The News reported.

    According to reports, the premier has asked the Interior Ministry, law enforcement agencies of the federal and provincial governments, and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to collectively take action against the menace of smuggling. He has also directed the Interior Ministry to present a report on related measures and a comprehensive strategy on the matter within 48 hours.

    He emphasised that keeping in view the recommendations of the task force formed to combat smuggling, short-term, medium-term and long-term measures should be initiated.

    The decision was taken at a high-level meeting, presided over by PM Imran and attended by Minister for National Food Security Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Trade Abdul Razak Dawood, interior and national food security secretaries, and acting FBR chairman among other senior officials.

    The meeting took stock of the demand and supply of essential commodities and their prices with particular reference to their smuggling. The report on progress so far made on the establishment of markets at the western border was also presented at the meeting. The PM directed accelerating the pace of establishment of markets and observed that because of smuggling of food items, common man was facing difficulties.

    “The menace of smuggling is causing losses worth billions to the national economy. Combating this menace is in national interests,” he contended, adding that prices of food items must be brought down by up to 20 per cent.

    The premier also made it clear that no negligence would be tolerated with regard to smuggling.

  • Here’s what you need to know about wheat smuggling investigation

    According to the report, the committee formed to investigate on exports of wheat and wheat flour during the ban period failed to produce results.

    According to the statistics of Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) shows 3,947 and 26,206 metric tonnes (Unit of weight equal to 1,000 kilograms) were exported between Aug-Oct 31, 2019.

    READ: Pakistan witnesses increase in remittances inflow: Moody’s

    The committee failed to produce the desired results and was also unable to identify the Customs officers involved in the scam. The only action that was taken is transferring of seven Collectorate officers of Peshawar and Quetta.

    When a senior customs officer was asked to comment on the matter, he said “I don’t want any media reporting on the issue as a lot of damage has already been done to the department”,

    READ: Freelancers payment limit raised to Rs. $25,000: State Bank of Pakistan

    Instead of revising the investigation processes or tracing the culprits behind the scam, the issue was turned into integrity matter of the Customs Department.

    Furthermore, according to the Custom Intelligence Department, they have conveyed to the government that 505 containers were cleared at Torkhan Border without the filing of goods declaration and payment of duty and taxes.

    READ: Reporter, who ‘exposed’ Bilawal’s train march, ‘murdered’

    The figures on clearance of containers without duty and taxes were challenged by Chief Collector North Dr Asif Jah. “I am still doing my investigation,” adding that “he has already reconciled 300 containers.”

    To investigate the matter, a number of committees were formed and Prime Minister’s Secretariat is not happy with the outcome of these reports and has now directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to conduct a probe.

    READ: PTI’s new social media laws: Are you in some sort of danger?

    The FIA has already compiled one report but it was returned with further directions to probe the issue thoroughly. “We will take action against the Customs officers if found involved,” the officer said.

  • Imran’s ‘blue-eyed’ Shabbar Zaidi resigns as FBR chairman?

    Imran’s ‘blue-eyed’ Shabbar Zaidi resigns as FBR chairman?

    In a rather expected development, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Syed Shabbar Zaidi on Tuesday resigned from the post, a private media outlet claimed.

    A prominent chartered accountant and former caretaker provincial minister for Sindh, Zaidi was named by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan in May last year as his choice for the new FBR chief.

    Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had last week hinted that the federal government may change the FBR chief if his health did not improve any time soon.

    Shaikh, in an interview with a private news channel, had shared that the government may decide to change the FBR chairman if he did not recover quickly as the government also planned to introduce a mini-budget.

    “The FBR chairman is ill and we hope he recovers quickly,” Shaikh had said. His statement had come weeks after Zaidi had sought an indefinite period of leave from his official duties on grounds of poor health.

    Earlier, Zaidi had gone on sick leave from January 6 to January 19. This had led to rumours that there was a rift in the government’s economic team. However, those rumours were rejected by the FBR.

    Meanwhile, another media outlet has rubbished the claims regarding Zaidi’s resignation.

    “I am not resigning from my post as chairman FBR. I have just not been performing my duties due to my health,” Zaidi told Geo News.

  • Pakistan’s FBR using ‘pirated’ US software

    The US has accused Pakistan’s Federal of Board of Revenue (FBR) of using ‘pirated’ version of its software. According to Business Recorder, the US has urged Pakistan to refrain from engaging in such practices. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells raised this piracy issue during her recent visit to Pakistan.

    According to sources, Wells maintained that FBR was using the pirated version of VMware illegally. Ms Wells urged Pakistan to buy the software instead of illegally using it. FBR denied these allegations and officials said this is simply not true. Shabbar Zaidi is currently serving as Chairman FBR.

    VMware, Inc. is a publicly traded software company listed on the NYSE under stock ticker VMW. Dell Technologies is a majority shareholder. VMware provides cloud computing and virtualisation software and services. VMware’s desktop software runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, while its enterprise software hypervisor is for servers.

  • FBR uncovers Rs100 billion in tax fraud within last four months of PTI govt

    FBR uncovers Rs100 billion in tax fraud within last four months of PTI govt

    Karachi’s Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) — the biggest revenue collecting arm of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — has unearthed Rs100 billion in tax evasion from July to October of the current fiscal year, The News International reported.

    According to the details, the senior officials of LTU Karachi have revealed that in the ongoing audit and examination, the unit detected Rs100 billion as tax avoidance/evasion by around 12 companies.

    Inland Revenue commissioners Zulfiqar Memon and Girdhari Mal announced these evasions while sharing information about the performance of the unit on the instructions of the FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi.

    The names of the tax-evading companies were, however, not disclosed.

    Reports quoted Girdhari as saying that one of the cases involved tax concealment of a whopping Rs23 billion and notices had been issued to the companies for recovering the taxes.

    “LTU posted a 16% growth in revenue collection during the first four months of (July – October) 2019-20,” he said and attributed the growth to reforms and initiatives taken by the government.

    LTU Karachi released Rs21 billion as sales tax refunds during the period under review after the change in sales tax regime effective July 1, 2019, stated the report.

    Meanwhile, Memon said that the law of information sharing from banks to tax authorities was introduced in 2013, however, the law had been given a stay order by the courts.

    He added that FBR was unable to receive information with the exception of specific/identified cases from banks. Recently a court has advised the bureau and Pakistan Banks’ Association to resolve the issue.

    LTU Karachi has also identified around 100,000 individuals who have commercial gas connections, but don’t have mandatory sales tax registration.

  • FBR sends notice to Mohammad Hafeez

    Pakistan’s star cricketer Mohammad Hafeez has reportedly gotten a notice from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for not revealing his properties and assets. Hafeez has, however, denied receiving a show-cause notice from the board.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Hafeez said, “I am unaware of any notice from the FBR. I have no idea why such news is being spread.”

    Hafeez asserted that he has always paid his taxes and has never dodged the law.

    “I file my tax returns every year without fail,” he said.

    Meanwhile, media reports said that the FBR will do an audit of Hafeez’s properties for the last five years, from 2014 to 2018. The revenue board has also collected data related to the cricketer’s bank accounts.

    As per the allegations, Hafeez has failed to declare assets worth Rs170 million, for which he has been asked to present a response.

  • Shutdown FBR, it’s a burden on country: SC

    Shutdown FBR, it’s a burden on country: SC

    Justice Gulzar Ahmad on Thursday has said that the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) is a burden on the country and trillions of rupees from national exchequer are sacrificed every year, Capital TV reported.

    According to the details, Justice Gulzar while hearing an appeal filed by an employee of the bureau concerning service matters said, “Put an end to FBR […] and you will see how much money is collected”.

    “Trillions of rupees are lost every year […] what kind of recovery FBR’s army of 22,000 people can make,” he remarked, adding that out that 80% of the [total] tax collected was through indirect means.

    Justice Gulzar also said that for recovering 20% of tax the bureau has hired 22,000 people.