FBR, banks agree to share info on suspected undocumented transactions

By
Shahnawaz Akhter
|
Under Section 165A, banks are responsible for providing details of financial transactions made by their account holders to FBR. Photo: AFP

KARACHI: Commercial banks have agreed to share details of their account holders with tax authorities in a deal inked this week to check suspected undocumented money in the banking channels, sources told The News.

An agreement was reached in a meeting between Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi and chief executives of commercial banks on November 27 at the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU).

“It would enable the tax department to access real-time information of transactions made through the banking system,” a source said.

Under Section 165A, banks are responsible for providing details of financial transactions made by their account holders to FBR. Sources quoted Zaidi as saying that Section 165A was amended in 2014, 2018 and recently through Supplementary Finance Amendment Act, 2019 on PBA’s recommendations.

Those details include a list of persons making cash withdrawal of Rs50,000/day or over Rs1 million/ month; deposits of Rs10 million/ month; credit card payment of Rs250,000/ month; and details of persons receiving profit on debt above Rs500,000/ year.

It is pertinent to mention here that the government had also made arrangements to streamline laws to access bank deposits for identifying financial transactions.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a meeting last month, had directed the law ministry and the State Bank of Pakistan to propose necessary amendments in bank laws and regulations to ensure real-time data sharing of financial transactions with FBR.

Originally published in The News