KARACHI: Advisors of Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) have advised the business and industrial community of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) to approach the FTO in dealing with all types of taxation-related issues including delays in release of Sales Tax and Income Tax refunds, unnecessary audit notices, misuse of authority, harassment by the FBR officials and any other issue which will be promptly resolved as FTO was a place where the taxpayers can easily and fearlessly have access to timely and free of cost justice.
FTO Advisors Badruddin Ahmed Qureshi, Mohammad Iqbal Ahmed, Ashfaq Ahmed and Muhammad Shakeel, during their visit to KCCI, stated that confidentiality of complainants was strictly maintained at FTO who can lodge their complaints against tax collection authority via any online mode of communication including WhatsApp, Email, Online Form available on FTO’s website and even through a phone which will be promptly responded and the issue being faced by taxpayers would be amicably resolved as per law.
Thanks to all the hard work and determination of FTO Asif Jha, the number of complaints being lodged at FTO have risen from 2,500 to 8,000 which clearly indicates that the taxpayers were no more reluctant to lodge tax-related complaints against FBR.
Advisor FTO Badruddin Ahmed Qureshi stated that as per law, refunds have to be transferred within 72 hours but this was not happening at all and FTO has been receiving a lot of complaints pertaining to delays in issuance of Sales Tax and Income Tax refunds.
“Taxpayers facing delays in refunds must approach FTO for assistance and we will make sure that refunds are provided to them at the earliest,” he added while referring to a particular refund case wherein the FTO succeeded in recovering refund worth Rs 10 million along with a compensation of Rs 17 million, summing up to a total amount of Rs 27 million as the said refund claim was pending since almost one-and-a-half decade.
Replying to concerns expressed over Section 8A, he said that if the transaction was carried at a time when the supplier was appearing on Active Taxpayers List and solid evidence about the same was also available, no businessmen or industrialists can be held accountable for the wrongdoings done by such supplier at a later stage.
“Any taxpayer facing such issue can seek FTO’s assistance and we’ll make sure that relief is provided.”
He further stated that Inland Revenue Audit Officer (IRAO) has no authority to carry out any assessment or issue orders but if it was actually happening, such cases may also be brought to FTO’s notice so that action could accordingly be taken against such unlawful moves. The interception by Customs officials when the imported and locally manufactured goods were being transited to upcountry was also a serious issue being suffered by business community which can also be dealt through FTO’s Office, he said, adding that FTO not only passes orders but also ensure strict implementation of the same.
He further informed that 90 percent of the reviews/ appeals submitted by the FBR against FTO orders have been decided in favor of FTO by the Presidential Office.
Senior Vice President KCCI, Touseef Ahmed, while welcoming FTO advisors, pointed out that the business community has been facing a lot of taxation issues wherein the loyal taxpayers were widely being harassed and FTO was the only hope for perturbed taxpayers. Underscoring the need to create a strong liaison between KCCI and FTO, he advised to form a joint committee between the two institutions so that various issues particularly pending refund claims, issuance of unnecessary audit notices and other arm-twisting tactics being used by FBR officials could be tackled.
“The formation of proposed committee or a helpdesk at KCCI would encourage many taxpayers to fearlessly lodge their complaints as there are many taxpayers who are usually reluctant to directly lodge complaints against the tax collecting authority,” he added.
Referring to Section 7E of Income Tax Ordinance, he said that this unfair law has been withdrawn all over Punjab after Lahore High Court’s order but it remains implemented in Karachi, Sindh and other provinces.
“This unfair law needs to be immediately withdrawn across Pakistan as we all live in one country so taxation laws should be the same for the whole of Pakistan”, he added while criticizing FBR’s discriminatory taxation laws which have been devised to mainly squeeze the taxpayers of Karachi city only.
Terming Section 8A of Sales Tax Act as “black law,” he said that it was highly unfair to hold the industrialists accountable for any misconduct by suppliers because when, any industrialist carries out deal with suppliers, they only check whether the supplier was on Active Taxpayers List or not.
“We carry out deals with those suppliers only who appear in Active Taxpayers List so we cannot be held responsible or questioned if any of these suppliers becomes non-filer at a later stage or is involved in issuing fake invoices or any other misconduct,” he added.
Vice President KCCI Mohammad Haris Agar, Chairman Federal Taxation Subcommittee Abu Bakar Shamsi, former vice president Younus Soomro and KCCI Managing Committee Members were also present on the occasion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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