The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has discovered a considerable amount, which involves PKR 60 billion transactions from abroad, conducted by a foreign company to over 70,000 Pakistani citizens, without the knowledge of the tax authority.
The said amount was transferred by the means of Payoneer, which is registered in the US but has no physical presence in Pakistan.
The investigation conducted by FBR discloses that a huge amount of Rs60.308bn was paid to individuals in the form of their foreign-source income in terms of provisions of Section 101, read with Section 11(5), of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
Moreover, the comprehensive revenue repercussion of the discovered online transactions is calculated to be over Rs10 billion. The amount will result in increasing the tax base but further enhance the overall tax-to-GDP proportion of the country by including genuine taxpayers receiving a regular foreign income.
Out of the total, 45,012 recipients are not registered on the tax roll and possess no National Tax Number (NTN), whereas 30,603 beneficiaries are registered on the tax roll. Nevertheless, 17,985 of the registered individuals are return filers, while 12,618 have not filed any returns with the tax authority.
In addition to it, Pakistan has secured the 4th position when considering the Top 10 Freelancing Countries incorporating the fastest growing freelancing communities, the country has also made advancements in the IT exports sector which has crossed the mark of $1 billion recently.
Although Paynoneer originates from abroad but has played a significant role in the economic sector of Pakistan. Therefore, based on the current events it has been proposed that tax proceedings should be launched against Payoneer for its income on account of payment to Pakistani citizens under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and the Federal Excise Act 2005.
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Source: The NEWS
