ISLAMABAD: Adviser to PM on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh while commenting on Amnesty Scheme has informed that 1,37,000 people have got themselves registered and Rs. 70 billion have been collected.
Informing that Rs. 3000 billion worth of assets had been declared by citizens who benefited from the Amnesty Scheme, Hafeez Shaikh further disclosed that Govt was going to float oversea bonds in the coming months.
Some 100,000 non-filers availed the scheme and people have also deposited their Rupees and foreign currencies in banks.
It is pertinent to mention here that under the PML-N government’s last tax amnesty scheme, 83,000 people had availed the scheme and over Rs. 124 billion had been collected.
FBR was all set to seize the assets of those who failed to declare them under the government’s Assets Declaration Scheme. As soon as the curtain fell on the Amnesty Scheme Orders were issued for the attachment of benami properties for 90 days. Their fate will be decided by the adjudicating authority.
Eight orders were issued for the attachment of property, in Omni Group cases, mainly owned by PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari. Six orders for attachment of 6000 kanals of benami property in Islamabad have been issued to PML-N Senator Ch. Tanveer.
As required under the Benami Transactions Prohibition) Act, 2017 Govt. had established three zones (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad) and eleven sub-zones for adjudicating authorities to deal with benami properties on 1st day of July, 2019. Through another notification issued by the FBR, Inland Revenue officers have been posted in the benami zones established under Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act-2017.
Hafeez Shaikh pointed out that no tax had been imposed on exports and measures were being taken to augment the volume of exports in order to reduce budget deficit and accelerate sustainable dollar inflow: “The plan is to lift overseas shipments to $26.8 billion this fiscal year by granting subsidies and concessions on raw-material imports,” he told.
