The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday discussed the matter relating to notices sent to business persons by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance was held with Senator Saleem Mandviwalla in the chair.
FBR Chairman Asim Ahmad informed the committee that Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) sends reports of suspicious transactions and before serving notices these reports are also verified by a third party.
He added that only transactions worth Rs. 10 million or above are dealt with under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was of opinion that the matters of suspicious transactions should be investigated under tax evasion instead of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. The committee directed the FBR to take the referred matter as a test case and advised to be extra careful in the scrutiny of all cases pointed out by the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).
Exemptions to SEZs
The senate body also deliberated the matter of property tax notice to Hayat Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd by Punjab Excise and Taxation department. Senator Mandviwalla maintained that the company is located in a Special Economic Zone and Government of Pakistan has a clear policy, which states that factories located in Special Economic Zones are exempted from all sorts of taxes.
The committee chairman directed the Board of Investment (BOI) to sit with all provincial Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to avoid any mismanagement in the provision of promised facilities and exemptions in these zones. He also directed the Excise and Taxation department not to send any further notices until the matter is resolved.
Google payments
While discussing the matter of Google payments being stopped by the State Bank of Pakistan. The officials of the central bank told that the cellular companies were directed to submit their contract documents to establish the misuse and violation outside of their mandate by 31st December. The chair directed the officials to provide progress on the matter once the deadline is passed.
