ISLAMABAD: Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) made recommendations on 13,500 taxpayers’ complaints, but only 336 were challenged by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) before President of Pakistan during 2024.
Dr Asif Mahmood Jah Federal Tax Ombudsman presented Monday annual report 2024 to Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan. FTO is the first one among all the Federal Ombudsmen to present annual report 2024, which is a statutory requirement.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed great satisfaction and appreciated the extraordinary performance of FTO and emphasised to further facilitate the taxpayers for the redressal of their grievances against FBR Maladministration.
Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Asif Mahmood Jah apprised the President about the achievements of the year 2024.
Annual report 2024 reflects that number of complaints in the year 2021, when the incumbent FTO took charge of the office, stood only at 2,816.
However, in the year 2024, a record number of 13506 complaints were registered with the FTO against the tax functionaries. A total of 12914 complaints were decided from the complaints lodged with the FTO in the year 2024, thereby surpassing all previous records which reflects the confidence of taxpayers in FTO for the resolution of grievances against FBR officials.
In 2024, FTO made recommendations on 13,500 complaints, but only 336 of those were challenged in representations with the President. The President reviewed 379 representations, including some carried over from 2023, and decided 326 cases in favour of the FTO.
Annual report 2024 further reflects successful implementation of the decisions rendered by the Federal Tax Ombudsman which stands at an impressive rate of 94.7%.
An amount of Rs22.79 billion was credited back to taxpayers as refund claim on the directions of FTO in the year 2024. Average time taken for the disposal of complaints was reduced to an impressive 34.11 days in the year 2024.
The report stated that 1705 complaints were resolved in a matter of days, in the year 2024 through informal dispute resolution under sect 33 of FTO Ordinance. The notable surge in the registration of complaints in 2024 is attributed to record 270 outreach sessions across Pakistan’s business community and other institutions conducted by Federal Tax Ombudsman.
Report further states that FTO has effectively resolved a huge number of complaints from the overseas Pakistanis, most of them resolved informally.
Among landmark decisions in the year 2024, FTO provided substantial relief to the often-overlooked demographic of low-paid contractual employees, teachers and Art students across Pakistan.
Publications of Tax Payers Rights booklet and Pendium of important FTO orders is yet another effort by FTO in the year 2024 to empower our taxpayers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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