RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair has said Monday that amnesty scheme-seekers are in a state of ‘wait and see’ since Chief Justice of Pakistan’s statement regarding Tax Reforms Package (TRP).

“Chief Justice Saqib Nisar’s statement to review TRP has restrained people from availing the scheme till his final announcement,” he said, speaking at a seminar on TRP, jointly organized by Pakistan and Karachi Tax Bar Associations at a hotel here. He said system was not improved in the past despite several such schemes but now situation was completely changed. He said it is now more difficult to conceal undeclared assets not only in Pakistan but in other parts of the world, due to automation. He said purpose of TRP was not revenue generation but documentation. He said business fraternity proposed the amnesty scheme to the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a meeting at the Governor House in Karachi last year.

He said PTI chief Imran Khan gave a political statement to reverse the scheme and initiate investigation against the persons, who got amnesty under the scheme if PTI came into power.

He termed current account deficit and balance of payment as major challenges for the government.

Zubair also urged NEPRA to rationalize the power tariffs as per Shanghai Power requirement in order to materialize the deal with Abraaj Capital as if not, the Chinese power company, who made a promise to invest US$9 billion in next five years, may pull out.

Earlier, Abid H Shaban in his electronic presentation said that as per section 236W data, black money worth around Rs 560 billion was utilised in real estate transactions since December 2016 to March 2017. He said government had announced TRP but people need clarifications and sense of confidence. He said as per PBA, around 600000 foreign currency accounts were being maintained in Pakistan.

Arif Habib, chairman Arif Habib Group, said that amnesty scheme would get reasonable response and the government was expected to fetch US$5 billion through this scheme. He urged the government to announce tax relief for the corporate sector in coming budget and if it was not happened then the de-corporatization would begin taking place and companies would prefer to register businesses as sole proprietorship.

Abdul Qadir Memon, president of Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA), said that present Tax Reforms Package was bound to succeed due to deterrence created through amendment in section 11(4) of ITO, 2001, restriction for non-filers to operate foreign currency account, property valuation at fair market value and others.

Khalid Mehmood, president Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA), said that any amnesty principally disturbed the compliant taxpayers but this scheme was timely announced and may yield desired results. A large number of members attended the seminar.