Experts like Dr Ikramul Haq, who has expertise in tax and anti-money laundering affairs, do not see the need for any new legal framework to curb tax evasion. “The only issue is effective enforcement as existing laws adequately provide the base to move against tax evaders and launderers,” said Haq. He said the AML Act and the Income Tax Ordinance of 2001 provided all the needed tools to take action against the tax evaders. Through the Finance Bill 2013, the government inserted Section 165A into the Income Tax Ordinance that provides all the necessary tools for the FBR to move against the evaders. This section overrode the Banking Companies Ordinance 1962, Protection of Economic Reforms Act 1992, Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947 and regulations made under the State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956. It binds banks to report any kind of suspicious transactions to the FBR. There is a statutory obligation on banks to give online access to its central database containing details of account holders and all transactions made in their accounts to the FBR. However, even after almost one and a half years of the amendment, the FBR has not enforced the law. Even government-owned banks are not reporting suspicious transactions.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 09:58:23 +0000
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