Details of property held by Pakistanis in UK received

The Federal Board of Revenue of Pakistan (FBR) has announced that it has received data of all immovable properties owned by Pakistanis in the United Kingdom from the tax authorities there.

The data was received with the assistance of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UK tax authorities, a short press release issued by the FBR announced.

A senior tax official said that the soft data received is related to those Pakistanis who are not UK residents and have purchased properties, including houses and flats, in the UK.

However, the FBR has not yet scrutinised the data to determine the total number of Pakistanis who have invested in the UK, or the total amount of the market value of the properties, the official added.

The release simply said that the “data will be further analysed to determine whether these people have declared these properties in their tax returns filed with the FBR”.

The official said the FBR has not yet received information regarding moveable, or liquid, assets held by Pakistanis in the UK.

“We will receive this information from September onward as part of the OECD convention,” the official said.

According to officials, it was not yet decided whether the data will be sent to field offices or scrutinised at the FBR headquarters.

“We will send notices to those people who have not declared these properties,” they added.

Analysts believe the receipt of this information at a time when the government has already announced an amnesty scheme will provide an opportunity to these Pakistanis to declare these assets at a very nominal tax rate.

At the same time, the FBR has already begun collecting data regarding huge investments made in real estate in Pakistan during the last few years.

However, these people have not declared their properties in their returns.

Pakistan is a signatory to the OECD Multilateral Convention, which will provide access to information about offshore financial accounts of Pakistani residents from September this year.

This will enhance the capacity of the Federal Board of Revenue due to access to offshore financial accounts of Pakistani residents held in the signatory countries.

Necessary amendments have also been made to the Protection of Economic Reform Act 1992, to regulate foreign exchange movements and bring them in line with the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.

Moreover, amendments have been made to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, whereby the FBR may inquire about the source of foreign remittance above Rs10mn, and the limitation of five years to probe foreign assets and income has been removed.