KSA Banker® replied on Sunday, April 8, 2018 02:49 PM PST
Dear "H A Mian", I am an overseas Pakistani like you, I have always worked abroad since my graduation, I have no income in Pakistan (only remittances from abroad), and so I don't pay any income tax. Yet, I am a tax filer and I file my income tax returns every year voluntarily but without paying any income tax. As a matter of fact, filing my income tax returns every year, I declare to the Govt. that they have taken advance income tax of a certain amount from me at the time of me purchasing properties in Pakistan and hence I will claim the refund of that advance tax collected from me at the time of transactions.
Hence, the point I am trying to make is that all overseas Pakistanis, especially those with significant savings and wishing to invest in Pakistan, can become filers without paying any income tax in Pakistan if they don't generate any taxable income in Pakistan (e.g. from rental of property). It only costs around PKR 10,000 per annum to engage a good lawyer to file your tax returns every year and keep your documents in order.
It will also be very helpful if one day the Govt. wants to do any audit of your wealth and assets. I went through it when I was a non-filer where they saw one of my properties and sent me a letter to explain my sources of income, wealth statement etc. Alhamdulillah I was able to do that as I had kept a tidy record of all my remittances to Pakistan and of my investments. Since then, I have been filing my tax returns every year and have not incurred any issues since then.
I hope the above will be helpful of other overseas Pakistanis as it is based on personal experience of one of you. |