The government tabled ‘Tax Law (Amendment) Act 2012’ in the National Assembly to mute a few legal provisions and grant immunity to personnel declaring undisclosed incomes. The bill was moved in the House by Law Minister Farooq H Naek. The bill would provide immunity to people people declaring undisclosed assets and incomes from prosecution under Accountability Ordinance, FIA Act and Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and Companies Ordinance. However, the bill would not grant immunity to cases falling in the domain of Narcotics Substance Act 1997 and the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. A new section inserted to the existing law states that “notwithstanding anything contained in this Ordinance or any other law for the time being in force, the Federal Board of Revenue may make a scheme of registration, on payment of registration tax, in respect of registered and un-registered non-filers”. Elaborating upon the aims and objectives of the bill, Naek said, the bill seeks to provide a mechanism for bringing potential taxpayers into the tax net and to enforce compliance to the tax laws, by giving a one-time amnesty to unregistered persons and non-filers to regularize their tax affairs by adopting a simplified procedure. The bill would grant an overriding effect to new provisions over the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, FIA Act 1974, Companies Ordinance 1984 and Foreign Exchange Ordinance 2002.
