ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday started issuing notices to Pakistanis who have purchased properties in the United Kingdom.

The bureau officially announced the issuance of notices to all those Pakistanis who not only purchased properties in UK, but also receive rent regularly. Approximately around 1,000 Pakistanis will be served these notices.

FBR Chairperson Rukhsana Yasmin said in a statement that notices were being issued to those who did not avail the tax amnesty scheme. The government announced the scheme for whitening of black money which ran from June 1 to July 31.

The details of these Pakistanis were provided by UK tax authorities, the chairperson said.

It is worth mentioning that another 500 people who have bought properties in Dubai will be served notices which will be despatched soon after the completion of first phase.

According to details, FBR will ascertain through notices whether the owners of these properties exist on the country’s tax roll and have declared the same in their income tax returns or not.

Moreover, it will help the tax body determine whether the recipients have declared properties in the country or not. At the moment, FBR has no clue about the total investment made by Pakistanis in real estate in UK.

FBR tax base unit has issued the notices to these individuals. The information will be used for broadening the tax base during the current fiscal year.

Pakistan has also become a signatory to the OECD Multilateral Convention, which will start providing access to information about offshore accounts of Pakistani residents next month. This will augment the FBR’s capacity to access offshore financial accounts of Pakistanis in signatory countries.

“Under this convention, we will receive further information regarding account details of Pakistanis from September onwards from many countries including the UK,” the official said.

The same procedure would be adopted for Dubai properties, the official said. On the other hand, the director of intelligence and investigation has collected data of properties, gift schemes, vehicles, etc and has already been shared with regional tax offices.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who was nominated for premiership on Monday, has also announced to take up this issue with UK and Dubai governments to bring stashed money back to the country.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2018