LAHORE: Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Dr Asif Mahmood Jah has passed orders for clearance of Rs 13 billion refunds for businessmen over the last two years.
Addressing members of his advisory committee (central) on Friday, he said his orders also helped reduction in tax evasion in leading sectors like steel, sugar and land development.
According to him, a research suggested that these orders from the office of FTO helped deduction of 60,000 new taxpayers in sugar sector and suo motu notices further led to price stability in the sugar market.
In addition, he said, his verdicts helped the salaried persons and pensioners in securing simple and easy tax return forms that encouraged a large number of new taxpayers as well to get register with the FBR.
He said both the public and semi-public institutions including PTA, QESCO, Punjab Rural Support Programme, Excise and Taxation department Punjab, WWF and Rawalpindi Medical University approached the office of FTO with their tax issues, which suggests the level of trust of stakeholders on it.
He said his office also took suo motu notice in the area of real estate and helped bridging gap between the FBR and provincial administration besides deducting confusion in some SROs to improve tax recovery. It would help both the public as well as the government, he hoped.
According to him, a check on unbridled powers of the field formations by his office would save general public from discretionary measures of tax officers in future. Through another crucial suo motu notice, he said, his office dug out information from the FBR regarding the presence of 100,000 smuggled cars in the country while further investigation from his office suggested that the actual number was much higher. A strong order from his office helped in curbing smuggling of vehicles in the country, he added.
The FTO said his orders regarding Benami zones of the FBR has helped controlling widespread tax evasion, as a sudden dissolution of these zones in the past had led to perishing of crucial material on tax evasion.
On receiving a complaint from Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute, my office ensured return of Rs660 million deducted by the FBR as a tax liability. He said his office has also ordered single return and single web portal for the textile units operating simultaneously in the province of Sindh and Punjab.
He said both Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir would be added to this web portal for the convenience of business community. It will reduce tax burden on the businessmen and work load on tax officers on the other, he said.
He said the office of FTO has received multiple complaints regarding digitization of the tax system. He added that another suo motu notice taken by him has ensured clearance of goods consignments from the godowns of Customs department.
Some of these consignments were parked in the Customs godowns over the last 40 years, he said and added that his verdict brought Rs 9 billion to the national exchequer. He said his office is also carrying out action against the theft of goods as well as foreign currencies of taxpayers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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