FBR tightens monitoring to curb money laundering, terror financing

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has revised its monitoring system for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, aiming to make supervision against money laundering and terrorist financing more effective. The move includes important amendments to the DNFBPs Regulations 2020 and a new allocation of supervisory jurisdictions for FBR officers across Pakistan. The FBR has decided to tighten supervision of non-financial businesses and professional institutions as part of efforts to strengthen the country's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework. Under the revised system, the FBR has divided DNFBP supervision responsibilities among different officers and issued a notification defining their respective jurisdictions. DNFBPs DG given nationwide supervisory powers Under the new arrangement, the director general (DNFBPs) will have supervisory powers across Pakistan. Directors, additional directors, deputy directors, assistant directors and inspectors have also been assigned powers to supervise DNFBPs within their designated jurisdictions. The FBR has specified supervisory responsibilities for Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Islamabad, the supervisory jurisdiction includes cases falling under the Large Taxpayer Office (LTO) Islamabad, Regional Tax Office (RTO) Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Karachi, the jurisdiction covers cases under LTO Karachi, Corporate Tax Offices and RTOs. For Lahore, the assigned jurisdiction includes Sialkot, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Sahiwal and Bahawalpur. In Quetta, supervision will cover DNFBP cases falling under the jurisdiction of RTO Quetta. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the arrangement covers cases under the RTOs of Peshawar and Abbottabad. Flexible allocation of responsibilities The FBR has distributed DNFBP monitoring responsibilities among different officers under the amended supervision framework. However, where necessary, the tax authority will be able to assign responsibility for a specific charge to any officer, providing flexibility in managing supervision and enforcement. The changes are intended to strengthen oversight of DNFBPs and make monitoring against money laundering and terrorist financing more effective across the country.