Tax officers told to finalise cases by month-end

All the tax commissioners have been asked by the director general, Regional Tax Office (RTO), Karachi, to finalise pending issues by June 30. The RTO DG has directed the officers in audit, enforcement, collection and refunds units to dispose of cases by month-end, sources told Business Recorder on Thursday.
The RTO Karachi is a part of the reform policy initiated by Central Board of Revenue (CBR) for providing services to taxpayers under one-roof. Therefore, several tax offices at various places would be amalgamated in the RTO Karachi during the first quarter of the next fiscal year.
The directives issued to tax offices aimed at disposing of maximum cases before amalgamation making RTO the place of excellence, sources said. According to directives, the tax officers were asked to ensure disposal of refund cases as per instruction of the CBR within given time.
Similarly, the officers in enforcement and collection (E&C) divisions were asked to ensure the recovery of arrears from taxpayers to the maximum extent by June-end. The commissioners were asked to monitor recovery of taxes in individual cases where tax outstanding was more than Rs 1 million. They would monitor the progress of recovery where the threshold of tax demand outstanding is more than Rs 0.5 million.
The tax officers were also directed to strictly follow the laws while recovering taxes, sources said, adding in case of disputed tax demands or in extreme exceptions case-wise report should be referred to commissioners. All pending rectification applications should be disposed of by the set deadline. In case, the rectification application is rejected the reasons of rejection should be communicated to the taxpayer.
The officers in audit units should ensure that all pending audit cases be finalised within the timeframe. There are exceptions where cases could not be finalised the officers should submit specific updated reports in each case to the respective commissioners. The officers were asked to finalise cases where order has been set aside on specific issues and second appeal has not been preferred.