Monthly bill of 50,000 or above: Mobile phone subscribers to be registered

To tighten the noose around tax dodgers, Tax Reform Implementation Committee (TRIC) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have decided to register those mobile phone subscribers who pay monthly bill of Rs 50,000 and above but are operating out of the tax net. It is learnt that the CEO Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) in consultation with FBR Member (IT) would sift the mobile phone companies data on the basis of two slabs ie monthly bills of Rs 50,000 and above, and Rs 100,000 and above respectively. This data would then be utilized for issuance of notices /tax broadening.
Tax Reform Implementation Committee (TRIC) and FBR have also agreed that notices for the Tax Year 2017 would be issued to unregistered persons on the basis of all types of information including sale/purchase of immovable property, educational expenses, electricity expenses, etc. However, for the previous tax years, foremost priority would be accorded to data pertaining to sections 236C, 236G, 236H and 236K of the Ordinance.
Information regarding travelling from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and data obtained from mobile phone companies to be utilized for issuance of notices. It was also decided that data in respect of educational expenses under section 2361 of the Ordinance is to be cleansed and utilized for issuance of notices. In this regard, DG (Withholding) would ensure the compliance.
It was decided that priority would be accorded to information regarding sale/purchase of immovable property, travel, educational expenses, motor car manufacturers and mobile companies, however, tax broadening efforts on the basis of TPL data would be an ongoing exercise. In the next meeting the committee would be apprised regarding the progress made with regard to dissemination of information/service of notices by all BTB Zones, sources added.
After thorough discussion it was decided that FBR Member IT would prepare a list of top 10,000 persons from whom advance tax under section 236K was collected and their corresponding data from banks, telecommunication and Civil Aviation would be correlated and consolidated to divide those 10,000 into non-filers and filers. The said data of buyers of properties shall be used for broadening of tax base in respect of non-filers among top 10,000. For the filers, the data shall be used to examine if their expenses are commensurate with their sources of income.