Amnesty Scheme helps recover Rs65 billion

ISLAMABAD: The declaration of 140,000 properties up till now has helped recover Rs65 billion through the tax amnesty scheme till the expiry of Asset declaration scheme 2019.
The FBR had acquired Rs3, 832 billion, which was negative growth in the fiscal year 2018-19, compared to that collected in 2017-18. With a total of 121,000 declarations submitted and over 25,000 were pending into the system, the total tax amount paid crossed the Rs60 billion mark according to Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi.
As the traffic on the FBR portal congested the digital front, people availed the amnesty scheme when the deadline approached. But the outcome was encouraging as it was the second scheme in a short span of two years, commented on the FBR Chairman. According to another tax official, the tax amnesty scheme achieved broad results as it helped to bring non- filers into the tax system and in turn the deposits into the banking sector had gone up substantially. The last scheme had been availed by the foreign amnesty scheme and Benami holders as the Benami assets/income could also be regularized, as per the FBR on the occasion of last scheme.
The composition of the last amnesty scheme was such that a total of Rs124.8 billion tax was collected when Rs2.5 trillion (Rs1040 billion foreign and Rs1460 billion domestic) of black assets and income were collected. The total declaration made was 82, 889 (5,929 foreign and 76,960 domestic) that helped fetch $436 million foreign currency.