ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Wednesday introduced a bill in the parliament to ban people who do not file their tax returns from opening bank accounts and purchasing cars above 800cc. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb moved the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, as part of the government’s measures against tax evaders.
The amendment proposed that non-filers would be banned from purchasing shares above a certain limit and opening a bank account. They will not be able to make transactions through a bank beyond a certain limit.
The bill states that bank accounts of non-registered business persons with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will be frozen and they will be banned from transferring property.
The FBR will also be able to freeze bank accounts and bar property transfer over failure to register with the top collection body for filing sales tax returns. However, their accounts will be unfrozen two days after they register.
The bill states that the restrictions will come into effect following the approval of the federal government. The bill comes as the government struggles to increase revenue collection as per the deal made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September this year to get a USD 7 billion loan package.
Pakistan set a Rs 12.913 trillion target for the fiscal year 2024-25, a 40 per cent increase from the tax collected in the previous fiscal year. The FBR fell short of Rs 96 billion in the first quarter (July-September) of the year as it collected Rs 2,556 billion against Rs 2,652 billion.
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