Employees without PAN may not get salary: FM

Finance Minister Surendra Pandey on Wednesday directed all the government employees to register with permanent account number (PAN) for taxation purpose. He also said the government might freeze salary if the employees did not register with PAN.

Pandey was in Dharan on Wednesday to attend regional workshop on control of revenue leakage. "I will finalize the actions to be taken against the employees not complying with the mandatory PAN registration as soon as I return to Kathmandu," he said. To deal with the non-compliers, Pandey said the Ministry of Finance was mulling over initially halting the payment of meeting allowances that the employees are supposed to get. Ultimately it will go to the extent of halting payment of salary to the defaulters, he added. "A circular to this connection will be issued soon. Hence, I urge all the employees to comply with it," said Pandey.

On the occasion, the Finance Minister even distributed PAN to journalists and employees of various public and private institutions. He also appealed to the businessmen and all income earners to register with PAN, saying that it will help government know how individuals and firms are contributing in revenue mobilization. "By getting PAN number, you can get tax clearance certificate at one go, something which will establish your creditworthiness and enable you to enjoy special incentives from the state," he said.

Addressing the function, Pandey expressed his concerns over prevailing practice of undertaking realty transactions with heavy under-valuation. "To address this issue, we are discussing on a provision whereby the government can buy a land in case the deal is heavily under-valued by paying 5 percent additional amount to the seller," said Pandey.

The Finance Minister further said that the government was also discussing over annulling the existing provision that allows transfer of ownership as gifts. This provision frees both the donor and recipient from various tax liabilities. He further added that the government was also discussing on possibility of introducing health insurance scheme and education loans for certain targeted groups.
Source:Republica