A revised form of Wealth Tax Statement for the tax period 2025 has been introduced. This statement has prescribed an additional column, requiring the disclosure of ‘Estimated Current Market Value’ of assets. As explained in the following paragraphs, this requirement needs to be reviewed for the reason that this prescription is against the very concept of wealth statement under Section 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

Wealth Statement as prescribed under Section 116 of the Ordinance is a unique requirement under the Pakistan tax code. There is no such requirement in almost all the countries including India and the UK. This aspect has been explained by the author in his book ‘Taxation of Non-Residents’ published last year. The nature and status of wealth statement has been discussed in detail by former Justice Maqbool Baqir in the Qazi Faiz Isa case.

Wealth Statement is not ‘wholly’ related to income for the year. For example, there can be an increase or decrease in one’s net wealth by an event, which has no relation with the sum chargeable to tax under the income tax code. This may include gifts from brother to sister, etc., or property acquired through inheritance. These........

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