ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has granted leave to appeal on the issuance of notices by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to Pakistanis regarding their overseas assets, income and expenses and suspended the orders of the Sindh High Court.

The Apex Court has accepted the plea of the FBR for hearing of an appeal. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court heard the plea under the Chair of Justice Umar Atta Bandial.

Earlier, the SHC had declared FBR’s notices null, void and illegal in December, 2020. The lawyer of FBR stated during the hearing that in accordance with the Income Tax Ordinance-2001, all Pakistanis having assets or income abroad were obligated to declare their assets, income and expenses along with their annual returns.

To comply with the stated legal provision, the FBR had issued the notices to the Pakistanis having foreign source income or assets abroad but had not declared them along with the income tax returns, he added.

Therefore, some individuals preferred to appeal before the Sindh High Court against issuance of notices by FBR and pleaded before the court to declare the notices as illegal.

While accepting the plea of hearing appeal, the Supreme Court stated that the notices issued by the FBR could not be challenged before the High Court as per law settled by the Apex Court.