Charitable bodies, religious trusts: Proposed Benami law will be applicable

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has revealed that proposed Benami law against holding property in fictitious names would be applicable on charitable organisations and religious trusts, subsequent to the removal of exemptions by the National Assembly Finance Committee.
The high-ups of the FBR agreed to the suggestion of the finance committee to include whistle-blower provision in the proposed law for making it more effective here on Thursday during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance held to take up the clause by clause reading of the law. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla presided over the meeting.
Chairman FBR Nisar Muhammad Khan said there would be no exemptions to the charitable organisation because the relevant section in the initially proposed draft bill to grant exemptions to the charitable organisation has been omitted by the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.
The meeting was informed that the bill introduced in the National Assembly reads: "The federal government may, by notification exempt any property relating to the charitable organisations or religious trusts from the operation of this Act." This section has been omitted, the meeting was informed.
The Secretary Finance said the law has been designed against multiple factors after some members of the committee voiced their concerns over confusion created from tax officials' statements, saying whether the law was designed against tax evasion or holding property in Benami. Senator Ilyas Bilour complained that the Secretary Finance wanted the committee to move ahead without satisfying its members.
The concerns were also raised on various other provisions of the law, especially those dealing with offence and prosecution, terms of reference for the special courts, etc, during the clause-by-clause discussion.
To the proposal of the committee members for inclusion of whistle-blower provision in the law, the chairman FBR agreed to the proposal and stated the concept of whistle-blowers has also been introduced to the income tax law in the current fiscal year. Benami Bill, he said was introduced two months earlier than income tax that is why the provision could not be made part of it. However, he acknowledged the significance of the provision for the success of the law.
The National Assembly's Finance Committee has amended the law that no order would be passed after the expiry of one year from the receipt of the reference for provisional attachment of property. The committee has completed reading of the bill and would from the next meeting start hearing views of State Bank of Pakistan and Law Division, and may solicit opinion of tax experts before making recommendations to the proposed Benami law.