ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed petitions of the large taxpaying companies which challenged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) orders of changing their taxing jurisdictions from the Regional Tax Office (RTO), Faisalabad, to Large Taxpayer Office (LTO), Multan, and from the RTO to Special Zones for builders and developers Islamabad.
According to the judgement of the LHC (writ petitions 52548 of 2020), a criteria has been provided for the LTOs, catchment areas have been defined and the petitioners all meet the criteria, as there is no dispute on the criteria, and the petitioners applicability to the same. In this regard, the companies are not required to be issued any notice nor are they required to be consulted on the same.
The taxpayers are obliged to the processed at the relevant LTO or RTO on the basis of the criteria set out and the defined catchment area.
Furthermore, no right of the petitioner is infringed as at best they have pleaded hardship and inconvenience, which does not violate any fundamental right, the LHC added.
A report has been submitted in the court that there are 350 cases transferred to different LTOs in Multan and Lahore, and as well as change in jurisdiction of different RTOs.
Only 122 persons have challenged their transfers and the rest have accepted the transfer of jurisdiction orders.
Chief Inland Revenue explained that all cases where the turnover is of more than rupees one billion and have a revenue contribution of Rs 20.00 million or more have been assigned to LTOs.
The object of setting up LTOs is to make the tax system more efficient, revenue responsive, large taxpayer friendly and uniformly in tax cases across geographical location.
The basic contention of the petitioners that this change in jurisdiction is illegal and beyond the scope of power given to the FBR is totally misconceived as the law specifically gives the power to confer jurisdiction, which includes the power to transfer jurisdiction from one tax authority to another, the LHC stated. Under the circumstances, there is no merit in these petitions and the same are dismissed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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