Powers under Sections 111 and 122 sought: FBR's wing seeks to tax unexplained assets, income

Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation Inland Revenue has sought powers under sections 111 and 122 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 to tax unexplained assets and income dug out during investigation. Sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the section 111 is relating to the unexplained assets and income and section 122 deals with the amendment of income tax assessments framed by Commissioners Inland Revenue.
During the directorate's recently held annual performance review conference, the officers of the intelligence arm of the FBR have observed that one of the main hurdles in the effective utilisation of its investigations is the absence of the legal powers under sections 111 and 122 of the Income Ordinance 2001. Resultantly, the Directorate General Intelligence & Investigations Inland Revenue remains dependent on the FBR field formations who have not responded positively to the information provided to them by the agency. Therefore, the officers of the agency resolved during the conference that FBR be requested to give powers under sections 111 and 122 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 for effective and speedy disposal of the information collected by it during investigations.
During its investigation of cases of tax evasion and tax fraud, the Directorate General unearths important information about assets and investments and passes this information to field formations for processing as the officers of agency do not have powers to take legal action in such cases. The FBR field formations have so far not shown the required agility in the levy and recovery of taxes in the cases sent to them by the Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation Inland Revenue. Giving legal powers to the officers of the Directorate General will enable to process information on its own rather than remaining dependent on the FBR field formations to process the information and generate the required revenues quickly and without any delay.
Sources said that the sections 111 and 122 of the Ordinance 2001 would give ample powers to the officials of the directorate to take action against the persons, who were unable to explain the source of income and assets. The concealment of income; suppression of any production/sales, etc, through unexplained source of income and assets would be detected by the agency's officers.
The directorate has also requested the FBR to grant power under section 122 of the Income Tax ordinance 2001 for amendment of income tax assessment framed by Commissioners Inland Revenue. Under the said section, the commissioner may amend an assessment order. The same powers may be available to the directorate of intelligence IR for amendment in the income tax assessments. The agency has also sought powers under Section 114 and Section 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 to enforce filing of income tax returns and wealth statements in major cases of concealment and income.