FBR will initiate drive against non-filers showing their affluence on social media

• The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to undertake a crackdown on a massive scale from October 1 of next fiscal year on non-filers who show evidence of affluence and luxury on social media but do not file tax returns.

The FBR was building lists of people who often post pictures of luxurious lifestyles on social media such as luxury automobiles, motorcycles, boats, bungalows, apartments and farmhouses but are not registered tax filers, insiders said.

Tax authorities would issue notices to such persons asking them to submit details about their income, assets and financial resources, sources added.

FBR officials said that they had collected a lot of data on people showing off wealth on social media during the current fiscal year. The tax authorities has also been helped by NADRA in tracking and collecting information about these people.

Information on the individuals’ spending, banking transactions, credit card and ATM card activity have also been gathered, sources said. The data so gathered shall be used to take action as per the relevant tax legislation.

Sources in the FBR said that those who show off their wealth on social media have time till September 30 to file their returns. Formal action against non-filers will commence after that date.

The officials say the move is intended at widening the tax net, shrinking the scale of the undocumented economy and making tax rules more effectively enforced across the country.