ISLAMABAD - The government has decided to take federal cabinet on board on recent developments on checking tax evasion and retrieving black money of around $200 billion stashed into Swiss bank accounts.

A high level meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday, decided to present bilateral agreement on avoidance of double taxation with Switzerland as well as multilateral convention on mutual administrative assistance on tax matters with the 34-member international body Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in federal cabinet meeting.

Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Nisar Khan briefed the finance minister on the progress of negotiations on the issue of input tax adjustment with the provinces. He also apprised the finance minister about the bilateral Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation with Switzerland as well as Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance on Tax Matters with the 34-member international body OECD.

Finance minister appreciated the work done by Federal Board of Revenue on above matters and desired that the federal cabinet be briefed about both the Conventions/Agreements.

Pakistan has recently achieved a breakthrough that would help the FBR in reopening different clauses with Swiss authorities under avoidance of double taxation agreement. After the revised avoidance of double taxation agreement, the government would retrieve money of around $200 billion stashed into Swiss bank accounts.

Meanwhile, the 34-member international body Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has offered to sign and ratify a convention - Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is likely to sign the convention in October this year to formalize the agreement. It is most comprehensive multilateral instrument available for all forms of tax cooperation to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.

The convention facilitates international cooperation for a better operation of national tax laws, while respecting the fundamental rights of taxpayers. The convention provides for all possible forms of administrative cooperation between states in the assessment and collection of taxes, in particular with a view to combating tax avoidance and evasion.