Diamonds and drones: Pakistan tax unit scans social media for evasion

KARACHI: Diamond sets and a drone light show at a near-million-dollar wedding have become evidence for Pakistan’s tax authorities under a new “Lifestyle Monitoring Cell” tasked with scanning social media for lavish spenders, officials said.

A team of 40 investigators from the country’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has started scouring Instagram, TikTok and YouTube posts this week, to match influencers, celebrities, realtors and businesspeople with disproportionate filings.

“It’s open-source – their Instagram accounts are a public declaration,” one senior FBR official said, adding tax evasion cases can be opened up in a matter of hours.

The FBR did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The monitoring cell has been formed to address Pakistan’s chronic inability to meet revenue collection targets, and to help meet tougher goals set in this year’s International Monetary Fund-backed budget.

The country has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in Asia, a chronic weakness that has forced it into nearly two dozen IMF programmes.

Less than 2% of the country pays its income tax.

The unit was formally set up this month, according to an internal document seen by Reuters, which said its mandate was to “systematically monitor, scour and analyse data from major social media platforms” and identify people who display wealth but are either not registered for tax or declare income that appears incongruous with their expenditures and assets.

According to the document, the cell will build digital profiles of suspects, assess the money behind their lifestyles, and prepare reports that can be used for tax or money laundering investigations.

It will maintain a central database of evidence, including screenshots and timestamps, the document said.

Diamonds, drones, DJs, and databases

Officials said one wedding under review carried a price tag of nearly 248 million rupees ($878,000).

Documents seen by Reuters showed nearly $283,000 spent on diamond and gold sets and $124,000 on bridal outfits by leading South Asian designers.

Guests entered through a hallway of floral arches as drones lit up the sky, before sitting down to multi-course meals prepared for 400 people.

The celebrations featured top makeup artists, DJs and traditional qawwali music bands, while international consultants helped choreograph the six-day affair that officials said epitomised the kind of extravagant spending now in their crosshairs.

The wedding is just one of several cases under review, officials said.

Investigators are also examining videos of luxury cars, high-end property tours and influencers flaunting expensive lifestyles.

“People themselves tag the event managers, the caterers, the jewellers, etc. It makes our work easy,” another official said, adding the expenditure of the two families involved did not match their income declaration.

Despite its recent formation, the new unit has already shortlisted multiple files for deeper scrutiny, officials said.

Past efforts to net high earners fizzled, but officials say the new focus on social media offers stronger leads and quicker ways to flag undeclared wealth.