The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced plans to launch a nationwide crackdown against wealthy individuals suspected of tax evasion and misdeclaration of assets and income. The move comes after alarming revelations about the extremely low number of billionaires declaring their true wealth in Pakistan.
According to a report published in The News on Sunday, the FBR discovered that only 1,100 people across the country have declared assets worth Rs1 billion. That figure drops dramatically to just 100 individuals when the threshold is raised to Rs3 billion—an astonishingly low number given Pakistan’s population of 240 million.
Top officials confirmed that the crackdown will be spearheaded by the FBR’s Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) Inland Revenue Service. “A dedicated team under the supervision of the I&I director general has been tasked with identifying and taking action against those worth billions who either declared much less or even nil income in their tax returns,” officials said.
Social Media Monitoring and Lifestyle Audits
To identify potential tax dodgers, the FBR has set up a social media monitoring unit, particularly focused on Pakistan’s major urban centers. Investigators have already identified hundreds of individuals flaunting lavish lifestyles inconsistent with their declared incomes.
One example cited was an event management company that organised a wedding where expenditures amounted to Rs148 million. The company reportedly manages four to six weddings of similar scale each month, offering valuable leads about high-spending families who may be underreporting their wealth.
The FBR has also flagged cases involving a luxury showroom owner with assets worth billions of rupees who reported negligible income, as well as a real estate tycoon in Islamabad who developed multi-storey malls but declared no significant assets in his returns.
Nationwide Enforcement Drive
To strengthen enforcement, the FBR has deployed 450 Inland Revenue Service (IRS) inspectors nationwide to conduct on-ground surveys. Their job will be to verify income declarations and uncover discrepancies between declared and actual wealth.
Initially, three to four focus areas have been identified. Along with social media monitoring, the FBR has secured data from event management companies and luxury goods vendors, exposing individuals who spend millions on jewellery and lavish wedding events but fail to declare matching income in their returns.
Hiring Auditors and Closing Revenue Gaps
As part of its broader enforcement strategy, the FBR is in the process of hiring over 1,600 auditors to select cases for audit and conduct detailed investigations during the current fiscal year. The revenue authority aims to generate over Rs400 billion through effective enforcement alone, in pursuit of its ambitious overall tax collection target of Rs14.13 trillion.
The urgency stems from revenue shortfalls in recent months. The FBR fell behind in collections during the first two months of the fiscal year and is expected to miss its first-quarter target (July–September) by at least Rs100 billion, a critical benchmark agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“The I&I IRS is ready to launch this crackdown to create a deterrent against tax evasion,” an official concluded, stressing that robust enforcement is now essential to close fiscal gaps and build confidence with international lenders.
