Senate panel endorses Tax Laws Amendment Act

A Senate panel on Thursday endorsed a proposed legislation that would lead to the closure of all bank accounts of non-filers having bank balances of over Rs1 million and would even bind filers to first explain the source for buying a home or a car. The Senate Standing Committee on Finance unanimously backed the Tax Laws Amendment Act 2024 with certain amendments to make the law more stringent. The bill will now be placed before the National Assembly for voting. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla of PPP chaired the meeting, which was attended by members of the PML-N and PTI. The proposed law introduces a new legal concept of eligible and ineligible persons and even a filer can be ineligible to buy a home, car, or shares and have a bank account. Only the eligible people will undertake transactions related to purchases of property, cars and shares that too up to 130% of the value of assets declared in their previous tax returns.