News
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Money in the bank no longer a secretBy Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: The days ahead will be tough for bank account holders in the country, as the government has introduced a clause for documentation of concealed income accumulated by the rich.
It has been proposed in the finance bill to make mandatory for banks and banking companies to provide tax authorities with direct access of accounts and transactions done by their clients, and Section 165A has been introduced in this regards.
According to the proposed amendment, “notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, including but not limited to the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962 (LVII of 1962), the Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992 (XII of 1992), the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (VII of 1947) and the regulations made under the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956 (XXXIII of 1956), if any, on the subject, every banking company shall make arrangements to provide to the board in the prescribed form and manner the online access to its central database, containing details of its account holders and all transactions made in their accounts; a list containing particulars of deposits aggregating Rs 1 million or more made during the preceding calendar month; a list of payments made by any person against bills raised in respect of a credit card issued to that person; a consolidated list of loans written off exceeding Rs 1 million during a calendar year; and a copy of each Currency Transactions Report and Suspicious Transactions Report generated and submitted by it to the Financial Monitoring Unit under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 (VII of 2010).”
Each banking company shall also make arrangements to nominate a senior officer at the head office to coordinate with the board for provision of any information and documents in addition to those listed in sub-section (1), as may be required by the board.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk