Investment in SCRAs: 12-month holding period proposed for tax concession: FBR chief

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial Saturday said the FBR has proposed a holding period of 12 months for availing concessionary tax regime on investment made in Special Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRA) under Finance Bill (2025-26).

While review of Finance Bill (2025-26) on Saturday at the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Chairman of the Finance Committee Naveed Qamar said that the condition of “holding period” would discourage investment in the SCRA. The government should set 3-6 months holding period for making investment in the SCRA.

The FBR chairman endorsed the viewpoint of Naveed Qamar. The FBR chairman said that we can propose six months holding period. The FBR has already discussed the proposal with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). In case of three months proposal, this should be subject to the approval of the Federal Cabinet.

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MNA Mirza Ikhtiar Baig stated that the government must watch interest of the overseas Pakistanis making investment in the SCRA.

Later, an official of the SBP joined the meeting online from Karachi.

Muhammad Ali Malik, executive director SBP informed the committee that the proposed amendment has nothing to do with the Roshan Digital Account. The proposed change is related to the SCRA and not Roshan Digital Account. There should be some limitation of holding period for keeping investment in the SCRAs. We want to discourage short-term investments in the SCRAs. If they keep investment above one year period, the concessional tax regime should be applicable. To avoid volatility in market, the holding period should be one year for the purpose of making investment in the said accounts. The tax advantage should be given to those investors who would keep their investment for at least one year.

According to the assessment of SBP, there would be no immediate or significant impact on investment in case one year holding period is introduced, the SBP official added.

The finance committee proposed six months holding period for availing concessionary tax regime on the SCRAs investments.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025