Assets Declaration Ordinance: ''Anyone may opt for amnesty during audit proceedings''

A person may opt for the amnesty scheme during audit proceedings as the Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019 only prohibits declaration of such assets with respect to whom proceedings are pending in any court of law like High Court or Supreme Court. The frequently asked questions have been issued by the Tola Associates here on Saturday explaining different aspects of Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019.
According to the FAQs, The Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019 has specified that in case of non-availability of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) notified rates of immovable properties, the 150 percent of the value provided by the District Commissioner will be taken for valuation purposes.
A question has been raised can a person avail amnesty scheme who is already assessed under section 122(5A) where department raised tax demand however the person has not approached appellate tribunal yet? Ashfaq Tola responded, "Yes, a person may opt for the scheme even after the passing of order by the department as the Ordinance only prohibits declaration of such assets with respect to whom proceedings are pending in any court of law (i.e. High Court or Supreme Court). However, if the period for filing the appeal has been lapsed and the condonation if the same is not available, then the Ordinance will not apply as the matter has attained finality". A question has been raised what will be the consequences if we do not avail amnesty scheme?
Ashfaq Tola said that Pakistan is a signatory to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development''s ("OECD") Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.
The convention provides that member countries ("parties") shall provide administrative assistance to each other in tax matters. Such
assistance may involve, where appropriate, measures taken by judicial bodies.
The above assistance may be in form of: Exchange of information, including simultaneous tax examinations and participation in tax examinations abroad;
Assistance in recovery, including measures of conservancy; and service of document;
Moreover, Unite Arab Emirates, which has a lion''s share of Pakistani offshore investments, has also signed the convention on April 21, 2017;
The OECD has obligated its member countries to implement regulations for extensive documentation. These documentation requirements and reporting obligations of member OECD countries will result in discovery of hidden foreign assets of Pakistani citizens. Therefore, in the event of non-declaration and subsequent discovery of assets, FBR shall have powers to add the values of undeclared assets in the income of the tax year to which such assets pertain under section 111 of Income Tax Ordinance 2001 ("ITO") and consequently shall charge both taxes and penalties.
Under section 7 of the Ordinance it is clearly stated that if a declarant has paid tax under section 6 in respect of undisclosed assets, sales and expenditure the declarant shall be entitled to incorporate such assets, sales or expenditure in his return, wealth statement or financial statement, Ashfaq Tola added.