The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance on Friday rejected a proposal that would have allowed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to share taxpayers’ personal information with commercial banks for data matching and tax compliance purposes.
The committee, headed by Syed Naveed Qamar, expressed concerns that sensitive financial information could be misused and questioned the compatibility of the proposal with the government’s planned faceless tax system. Lawmakers said involving banks in tax enforcement could expose taxpayers to unnecessary scrutiny and harassment.
Under the proposal, banks would have compared customer data against algorithms provided by the FBR and reported discrepancies back to tax authorities.
However, the committee allowed taxpayer information to be shared only with the State Bank of Pakistan for the creation of a centralized data repository.
Separately, lawmakers called for a review of income tax exemptions granted to select organizations, including entities linked to the armed forces and charitable institutions, arguing that preferential tax treatment should be reassessed. The committee also approved doubling the minimum income tax rate on gains from the disposal of securities by non filers.
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