No amnesty for non-customs paid vehicles: FBR

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ruled out the existence of any proposed amnesty scheme targeting non-customs paid (NCP) vehicles, which comes at a time when dealers have been noticeably hiking prices across various categories over the past few weeks. “There is no such proposal under discussion or consideration in FBR”, the spokesperson Afaq Ahmed Qureshi told Dawn on Monday. The social media is flooded with false information that FBR is contemplating an amnesty scheme for vehicles. “These are nothing but baseless rumours,” Mr Qureshi stated, adding that the very notion of such a scheme is out of question while Pakistan is adhering to an IMF programme. The government has taken strict action against unlawful money traders, smugglers and those holding local and foreign currency. As a result, the Pakistani rupee’s exchange rate against the dollar has dropped to around Rs277 per dollar. Previously, it had reached a record high of Rs335 in early Sept 2023. A tax official told Dawn that a coordinated effort is underway, particularly from dealers who have heavily invested in NCP vehicles in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan, advocating for the amnesty scheme.