A large-scale withholding tax (WHT) evasion scam comprising Punjab’s property registrars, revenue officers, and attorneys has revealed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
However, they never put the WHT they received from property sales worth billions of dollars into the public coffers.
FBR Revealed Massive WHT Evasion Scam in Punjab
In an electronic examination of property registrars in Punjab, the FBR’s Regional Tax Office (RTO) in Sargodha reportedly discovered that the registrars had kept the withheld WHT from immovable property transactions rather than sending it to the FBR’s allocated accounts.
Additionally, the RTO found that the property registrars had applied reduced WHT rates for non-filers and issued fictitious tax challans in an attempt to deceive the authorities.
In accordance with the Income Tax Ordinance 2001’s enforcement requirements, the RTO started recovery procedures and prosecutions against the parties involved.
Over Rs. 388 Has Collected From Defaulters So Far
Over Rs. 388 million has collected from defaulters by the RTO thus far.
The discovery of the WHT revenue leakage on property sales and purchases indicated that organized crime groups that operate in other locations may be making significant attempts to recoup the amount of money that was improperly avoided by property registrars.
The FBR could easily exceed its revenue collection goals for the remaining months of 2023–24 if it could identify the same type of revenue leakage in WHT collection in other RTOs.
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