The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued 13,000 notices to property purchasers in Karachi since July this year, urging them to file returns and explain their sources of income.
As per details, the Regional Tax Office-II Karachi obtained information of the property holders from property registration authority and other housing societies. On the basis of this information, the notices were served across the city.
The recent crackdown is in line with the government’s announcement, which warned that the current amnesty scheme would be the last chance for anyone to document their properties by paying a one-time tax.
Section 236K of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, holds every individual responsible for registering, recording, or attesting transfer of any property. It also bounds people to provide information about the buyer to the FBR.
As per the sources, the notices were sent to people who had deducted the withholding tax during the time of purchase but had not filed returns.
Anyone who owns an immovable property “with a land area of 500 square yards or more or own any flat, immovable property with a land area of 500 square yards or more, and a flat having covered area of two thousand square feet or more” is liable to file returns.
Those who don’t comply or cannot justify their source of income will face legal proceedings.
The possible penalties from FBR on the undisclosed income could be a 100 percent additional amount of calculated tax. The non-compliers of notices could face 50 percent of the tax, the source added.
