Pkrevenue.com

Tag: documentation

  • Bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 worth Rs233 billion documented

    Bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 worth Rs233 billion documented

    KARACHI: People have documented an amount of Rs233 billion invested in bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 denominations following the government announcement of discontinuation.

    According to statistics of Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) people have Rs323 billion bearer bonds of Rs40,000 denomination by October 2019, which is around 90 percent of the total invested amount till May 2019.

    The government on June 24, 2019 announced to discontinue the circulation of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds in initial phase.

    The investment in prize bonds of Rs40,000 denominations reached to record level of Rs258.72 billion by May 2019.

    However, since announcement the stock of bearer prize bonds was gradually falling and reduced to only Rs26.15 billion by October 2019.

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) following the announcement issued procedure for the banks to facilitate general public in exchanging the unregistered prize bonds through three different modes.

    The SBP has barred the exchange of bearer prize bonds against cash.

    However, it can be redeemed against registered or premium prize bonds or can be converted into national saving schemes or face value (direct transfer to the bank account of bond bolder).

    The bearer instruments have been known as parking lot for undocumented economy. Therefore, the government launched registered prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination in March 2017 which could be purchased against certain requirements including Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) and valid bank account.

    Following the ban on bearer prize bonds and its conversion through option of known documented manner, the investment in premium prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination jumped up to Rs17 billion by October 2019 as compared with Rs6.17 billion as of May 2019, showing an increase of 175 percent.

    According to the SBP the bearer instrument can also be exchanged in savings schemes such as Special Saving Certificates (SSC) or Defence Saving Certificates (DSC).

    The total investment into the saving certificates increased to Rs2.4 trillion by October 2019 as compared with Rs2.2 trillion by May 2019.

    The government is intended to transform all the bearer prize bonds into to registered securities. In this regard the Central Directorate of National Savings in collaboration with SBP is planning to issue scripless registered prize bonds amongst all denominations with objective to document the economy.

  • No compromise on documentation of economy: FBR chairman

    No compromise on documentation of economy: FBR chairman

    ISLAMABAD: Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday said that the government will not compromise documentation of economy by surrendering condition of CNIC on purchases.

    He said that the condition of CNIC had been enforced on purchases above Rs50,000.

    Speaking at a seminar organized by Sustainable Development Policy Initiative (SDPI) on Wednesday, he said that priority of the government was to enhance the tax net and expend tax base to documenting the country’s economy. And taxation is the only way to forward for equitable distribution of wealth, as we cannot have stabilized and equitable society unless we have a fare taxation system, he added.

    The FBR chairman said that due to presumptive tax regime, we actually dissociated the taxation from the economy, where taxing the real income was out of question.

    The incumbent government and the International Monitory Fund (IMF) are on the same page, as there was no disagreement by the government on the measures proposed by the IMF, especially the taxation measure, he said.

    The chairman said that the government would not bow down against the pressure, protests and lame excuses of the businesses and industries.

    Over the decades the policies of the successive governments make Pakistan a trading state rather a sami-manufacturing state, where the country is importing everything from mineral water to foods items and never worked-out on import substitution.

    While raising the concerns over the open transit trade agreement with Afghanistan, he said the agreement was being exploited and abused by the smugglers which negatively impacted the local industry.

    Pakistan needed to review this agreement and should take stringent measures to control illicit trade on Pak-Afghan border, he said.

    There are around 100 thousand companies registered with the government of Pakistan, where only 60 thousands file their returns, which shows the level of tax compliance.

    He said the measures taken in the current federal budget would fundamentally change the course of history of Pakistan.

    The government was taking steps to redress the institutional corruption through automation of the taxation system, the Chairman FBR said.

    He said that it is his responsibility to improve the tax base under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

    Hawala and Hundi have inflicted a huge loss on the country’s economy,” he said and added measures were being taken to include the middle class in the tax net.