FBR issues new rules to get Bank Account holders’ information

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday issued rules for taking information from banks about their account holders that included deposits, credit card payments and cash withdrawals. Through this new order, it is now mandatory for the banks to provide information of profit on debt and details of account holders. The amendment was made in the Income Tax Ordinance through the Finance Act 2020 to fulfill the requirements and recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The banks will be bound to provide the following details of their account holders:
- CNIC
- NICOP
- Passport number
- NTN
- Name
- Title of account
- Resident/non-resident status
- Address
- Contact number
- Account opening date
- Account number (IBAN)
- Amount deposited in a month
- Amount of cash withdrawal during a month
- Amount of tax deducted
- Profession/business/occupation of the account holder
Moreover, the banks will have to submit monthly information or data of the account holders’ transactions to the board including:
- Deposits statement
- Credit Card payments statement
- Cash Withdrawal statement
- Profit on debt statement
- Any other information as required
The banks will also have to submit an annual profit on debt statement to the FBR
In addition, every bank officer will be required to submit to the board an annual profit on debt statement. For the observance of due diligence procedures of record keeping, the FBR has also instructed the reporting financial institutions to maintain the record of the undertaken steps and any evidence confirming the performance of the due diligence procedures and measures to get such records for at least five years after the end of the period within which the reporting financial institution must submit information that is required to be reported to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The reporting financial institutions will file the common reporting standards reports on May31 of each year.
In another development, the FBR on Monday decreased the withholding tax (WHT) on sugar’s import so as to reduce the prices of commodity for end consumers. The income tax SRO771 stated that the FBR would impose reduced rate of 0.25 per cent on import of sugar. The newly amended rate would be applicable on import of 300,000 tonnes of sugar, the SRO read. The offer would remain effective from August 25, 2020 to November 15, 2020.
Moreover, another income tax notification SRO772 stated that the government waived-off the withholding tax (WHT) on import of oxygen gas, cylinder and cryogenic tank for a time period of 90 days. The exemption would be applicable in connection with the letter of credit (LC) opened or goods declaration form (GDF) filed on and from June 23.
FBR also re-designated the Inland Revenue Field Formation
The FBR also re-designated the formation of Inland Revenue field w.e.f from Sept 01, 2020. The order under Section 4(1) (R) of FBR Act-2007 was issued on Monday 24, 2020 for the following re-designations:
Previous Name | Re-designated Name | Location |
Large Tax Payers Unit | Large Tax Payers Office | Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad |
Large Tax Payers Unit-II | Medium Tax Payers Office | Karachi |
Corporate Regional Tax Office | Corporate Tax Office | Karachi and Lahore |
Regional Tax Office-II | Regional Tax Office-I | Karachi |
Regional Tax Office-III | Regional Tax Office-II | Karachi |
Regional Tax Office-II | Regional Tax Office | Lahore |