FATE wing told to educate taxpayers: FTO tells FBR to get IRIS e-system debugged

Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Abdur Rauf Chaudhry has observed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Facilitation and Taxpayer Education (FATE) Wing has evidently not been able to explain the system properly to taxpayers and the public at large. A concerted campaign be launched to debug the IRIS system and educate the public on all aspects of its utilisation.
According to an order issued by the FTO (complaint no.448) in case of Abdul Hamid Khan Darbari, the FTO has recommended to the FBR to direct Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) to debug IRIS; direct tax facilitation wing of FBR to launch campaign to educate taxpayers on all aspects of IRIS; and report compliance within 30 days. The FTO findings revealed that the IRIS e-system is the cause of many problems faced by taxpayers with regard to filing of returns and related documentation.
The tax facilitation wing of FBR has evidently not been able to explain the system properly to taxpayers and the public at large. It is high time that a concerted campaign be launched to debug the IRIS system and educate the public on all aspects of its utilisation. Departmental maladministration is evident in this case, FTO added.
The order said that it is a complaint filed under section 10(1) of the Establishment of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 against problems faced by taxpayer in electronic input of particulars through IRIS pertaining to payment of motor vehicle tax u/s 234 of the income Tax Ordinance, 200 (the Ordinance). The Complainant contends that he could not enter the relevant particulars at the time of filing return for Tax Year 2015 as the relevant field was statedly blocked by the e-system. He stated that he sent a message to Member I.T for clarification and assistance but elicited no response.
When confronted, the competent authority in FBR submitted a reply to state that the Complainant's problems were due to the fact that he did not refer to the audio/video help available in the IRIS system for e-filing of returns of income and related documents, the FTO order added.