Under a major amendment in the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019, the government has decided to establish Directorate of International Operations to exclusively deal with the cases of undisclosed offshore assets and income of Pakistanis held abroad.
According to the functions of the new directorate, Directorate General of International Tax Operations shall consist of a Director-General and as many Directors, Additional Directors, Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors and such other officers as the Board may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint.
The Board may, by notification in the official Gazette specify the functions and jurisdiction of the Directorate General and its officers and confer the powers of authorities specified in section 207 upon the Directorate General and its officers.
The functions and powers of the Directorate General of International Tax Operations included to receive and send information from other jurisdictions under spontaneous, automatic and on demand exchange of information under exchange of information agreements levy and recover tax by passing an assessment order under section 123(1A) in case of undeclared off-shore assets and incomes; receive, transmit and exchange country by country reports to the jurisdictions that are parties to international agreements with Pakistan and conduct transfer pricing audit in cases selected for such audit by the Director General of International Tax Operations.
The Board may, by notification in the official Gazette, specify the criteria for selection of the taxpayer for transfer pricing audit, amended bill added.