{"id":3161,"date":"2025-06-17T08:45:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T03:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/?p=3161"},"modified":"2025-06-17T08:32:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T03:32:23","slug":"fbr-arrest-powers-face-scrutiny-in-budget-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/2025\/06\/17\/fbr-arrest-powers-face-scrutiny-in-budget-2025-26","title":{"rendered":"FBR Arrest Powers Face Scrutiny in Budget 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is reconsidering the wide-ranging powers granted to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to arrest suspected tax evaders, amid growing concern over the potential for abuse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a high-level committee to review the contentious provisions included in the Finance Bill 2025-26.<\/p>\n

The committee is tasked with proposing strong safeguards to prevent arbitrary arrests by tax officials.<\/p>\n

The move comes after significant pushback from business leaders and members of parliament over the new arrest powers.<\/p>\n

Critics argue these measures could lead to harassment and undermine taxpayer trust in the FBR.<\/p>\n

In response, FBR Chairman Mahmood Langrial clarified that any arrest under the proposed Section 37AA of the<\/p>\n

Sales Tax Act, 1990, would require prior approval from a commissioner.<\/p>\n

He also suggested the government may further tighten the process by requiring sign-off from three senior officers instead of just one.<\/p>\n

Business Community Demands Safeguards<\/h3>\n

The business sector has raised alarms over the proposed powers.<\/p>\n

Pakistan Business Council CEO Ehsan Malik labeled the move as \u201cdraconian\u201d in a letter to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.<\/p>\n

He warned that it would likely be used to \u201charass\u201d compliant taxpayers.<\/p>\n

FBR officials maintain that arrests will only be made in specific cases.<\/p>\n

These include when a tax defaulter ignores three summons, attempts to destroy evidence, or is at risk of fleeing the country.<\/p>\n

Langrial emphasized that the powers will be limited to serious violations and that procedural checks will be introduced.<\/p>\n

He further noted that while the authority to arrest exists in current law, the new bill aims to streamline the process in line with recent court rulings.<\/p>\n

Parliamentary Oversight Intensifies<\/h3>\n

Prime Minister Shehbaz has ordered that any misuse of arrest powers must be prevented through strict oversight.<\/p>\n

He instructed officials to develop an external review system and ensure that arrests occur only in cases of high-value tax fraud.<\/p>\n

In a recent meeting, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance expressed concern over the proposed amendments.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Aurangzeb reassured the committee that the issue would be revisited.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged Senator Farooq H. Naik\u2019s suggestions for more robust safeguards and called them \u201chighly appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government is now consulting coalition partners before finalizing the provisions in the Finance Act.<\/p>\n

The prime minister has also directed that protections against misuse be explicitly included in the new legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is reconsidering the wide-ranging powers granted to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to arrest suspected tax evaders, amid growing concern over the potential for abuse. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a high-level committee to review the contentious provisions included in the Finance Bill 2025-26. The committee is tasked with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1305,1367,1280],"class_list":["post-3161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-business","tag-power","tag-reform","tag-taxation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3163,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3161\/revisions\/3163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}