FBR to seek details from banks about account holders under new rules

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has proposed that it should be allowed to seek details from banks about persons who deposited Rs 10 million in the account or more in a month or have been making credit card payment of Rs200,000 on a monthly basis.

According to the draft rules of the Finance Act 2020, the FBR has suggested that the profit on debt and particulars of account holders who have withdrawn Rs1 million or above in a month will also be shared with the FBR on prescribed forms.

The proposed amendments were brought by the government to the Finance Act 2020 on the eve of Parliament’s approval of the budget for 2020-21.

The FBR has notified SRO 686(I) 2020 to issue draft amendments to the Income Tax Rules, 2002 to obtain information of account holders from the banks.

The FBR has also asked the banks to provide the following particulars of the account holders in the above said categories:

CNIC, NICOP, passport number, NTN, name, the title of account, resident/non-resident status, address, telephone number, account opening date, account number (IBAN), the amount deposited in a month or amount of cash withdrawal during a month, amount of tax deducted and profession/business/occupation of the account holder.

The proposal also says the Federal Board of Revenue under the proposed rules, can ask banks to provide information of account holders’ deposits statement, credit card payments statement, cash withdrawal statement, profit on debt statement, and details of any information or data as required by the board from the banks.