Asset Declaration Scheme Deadline Extended to July 3

Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh, announced on Sunday that the government is extending the Asset Declaration Scheme (ADS) till July 3.

Keeping in view the increasing interest of people in the ADS, the government extended its last date till the office hours of July 3 (Wednesday) to allow people to declare their assets and secure themselves against ramifications.

“The Asset Declaration Schemes has been witnessing a lot of interest at the last minute…., so it is extended till the office hours conference,” said the advisor while briefing the media on the budget for the fiscal year 2019-20.

Benami Commission

Abdul Hafeez Sheikh appealed to the people to use the scheme as the government had already established a ‘Benami Commission’, which is mandated to go after the Benami properties.

Dr. Hafeez Shaikh said that under the Benami law, there were heavy penalties and severe punishment for those holding Benami properties.

“Since the Assets Declaration Scheme is in its last stage, so I appeal to the citizens, whether they are inside Pakistan or abroad, to take advantage of it,” he said. It is an easy way to bring the taxable hidden income into the tax net, he added.

FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi said that without broadening the tax net, the revenues could not be improved.

“Capacity extension depends upon the availability of data and not the existing tax filers,” he added.

Shabbar Zaidi said the Benami Commission would be operational from July 1 and would be fully mandated to take actions against the Benami property holders. He urged the people to take advantage of the scheme to avoid any legal prosecution.

80,000 File Their Taxes

He said that under the Assets Declaration Scheme, about 80,000 new people had become tax filers.

Hammad Azhar said the scheme was a great success as it was attracting a huge number of people to declare their assets and each hour, thousands in numbers were entering into the tax net. A huge quantity of hidden assets has been declared so far.

He said the majority of the new tax filers were small businessmen, shopkeepers, jewelers, and others, who were doing businesses worth of billions of rupees but were untaxed.

The Focus of The Budget

The advisor enumerated five key areas that had been the focus of the budget for the fiscal year 2019-20. Those included overcoming the external threat (current account deficit and trade deficit), taking austerity measures, protecting the vulnerable segments of society, protecting the interest of industrialists to help economic growth and mobilize revenue (Rs. 5.5 trillion).

He said the economy was facing a crisis when the incumbent government took over. It had to face many challenges on the external front in terms of current account deficit, trade deficit, and debts to the tune of Rs. 31,000 billion, including foreign loans of $100 billion.

In order to overcome the situation, the tariff on imports, particularly luxury goods, was increased and same policy was carried out in the upcoming budget, resultantly the current account deficit had reduced from $20 billion to $13.5 billion, he said.

He said the current account deficit would be further reduced to $7.5 billion during the upcoming year.

The advisor said that to overcome the economic challenges, the government mobilized $9.2 billion in cash from China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, a $3.2 billion deferred payments facility agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia for oil imports. An agreement of $3 billion was also signed with Qatar, out of which $500 million has been transferred.

To a question about the reforms in FBR, Zaidi said that a major reshuffling in the bureau was avoided due to the budget and the Assets Declaration Scheme. However, work on the reforms would be initiated in next week.

He said that by next week, the process of sales tax registration would be made quite easy and a person would not need the help of an expert to fill in the registration form.

Moreover, by August, filing tax returns would also be made easy to facilitate the filers, he added.


  • Good job done , all those won have good earnings must pay taxes. Now maximum efforts be made to apprehend all those who have Benamis in the names of their Cooks & Drivers. Specially politicians & govt. officials who are directly responsible for looting govt. treasury.


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