ISLAMABAD, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's interim government has asked President Mamnoon Hussain to extend the Tax Amnesty Scheme by up to 50 days.
According to the local media reports early Sunday, the caretaker government decided to extend the amnesty scheme after it helped the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the country's taxation authority, to achieve the amended revenue collection target for the fiscal year of 2017-18.
As per the details, the interim government has asked the South Asian country's president to extend the Tax Amnesty Scheme by 31 days up to 50 days.
The decision has been taken to encourage more Pakistanis to declare their local and foreign assets. A huge number of Pakistanis filed for their undeclared assets in the last week of the scheme. The Tax Amnesty Scheme was set to expire on June 30, which according to the Pakistani laws, is not extendable.
Nearly 5,000 people filed returns declaring their foreign assets whereas they also deposited 80 billion Pakistani rupees (657 million U.S. dollars) in terms of taxes in the national exchequer.
According to a Pakistani news channel, the government has received more than 100 billion rupees (821 million U.S. dollars) under the scheme by June 30.
The FBR collected over 150 billion Pakistani rupees (1.23 billion U.S. dollars) during the month of June, thanks to the tax amnesty scheme.
Pakistanis used the amnesty scheme to declare their local and foreign assets worth over 2,000 billion rupees (1.64 billion U.S. dollars), the report added.
Meanwhile, the FBR has instructed its staff and officers to work for extended hours to cater to the tax amnesty scheme as June 30 was the last working day of the fiscal year of 2017-18. The FBR authorities have been directed to stay in their offices till 2:00 a.m. Pakistan time.
According to the information provided by the FBR, around 45,000 people have availed the amnesty scheme until Thursday. Up to 22,000 people with assets in Pakistan and around 23,000 taxpayers with assets on foreign soil reached the FBR until June 28.
The tax amnesty scheme was announced by the previous government which completed its tenure on May 31. The scheme took effect on April 10 and was due to end on June 30.
The scheme was designed to provide an opportunity for the people to file their local and foreign assets without facing any legal consequences. Taxation authorities have warned the individuals with undeclared local and foreign assets to face dire consequences if they failed to make use of the tax amnesty scheme.
