ISLAMABAD: The government is considering allowing people to bring in up to $100,000 from abroad without disclosing the source of income in a move that it hopes can fetch billions of dollars in the next fiscal year. However, this move can create some troubles.
Sources said that the government is considering bringing an amendment to Section 111 (4) of the Income Tax Ordinance that deals with unexplained income.
Some describe the proposals as a perpetual tax amnesty scheme while others see it as an alternate source to arrange precarious foreign currency to avoid a default.
According to the current law, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) cannot ask the source of income, if foreign exchange remitted from outside Pakistan through normal banking channels does not exceed Rs5 million in a tax year; is encashed into rupees by a scheduled bank and a certificate from such bank is produced to that effect.
A few years ago, the then government had reduced the limit from Rs10 million to Rs5 million to reduce the chances of converting black money into white money.
In the last budget, the government had also expanded the web to the remittance received through money service bureaus, exchange companies or money transfer operators.
