The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has communicated a list of sectors including leasing companies, ghee/cooking oil manufactures and financial institutions to the field formations for desk-audit under the provisions of Income Tax Ordinance 2001, it is learnt here on Thursday.
The sectors liable to desk-audit are oil and gas companies, manufacturers of ghee/cooking oil, banks/financial institutions, leasing companies, flour mills, super markets, restaurants and hospitals. If any discrepancy were detected during desk-audit, only potential units would be subjected to detailed audit under section 177 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
According to sources, the Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) have started selection of cases for audit within these sectors. The board has studied these sectors and asked the field formations to preferably examine these sectors for desk-audit purposes.
Under section 177 of the Ordinance 2001, the FBR has the authority to communicate criteria for audit to the filed formations. In this regard, the board has identified these sectors for audit purposes.
The field offices have already issued notices to non-compliant units for audit under section 177 of the Ordinance 2001. The audit of some professionals, service providers, chain stores/shopping malls, doctors and advocates are underway in the field formations.
Sources said that the section 177 has given ample powers to the commissioners for selection of cases on the basis of parameters devised by the board. In addition to the selection criteria, the commissioner may also select a person for an audit of his income tax affairs. The commissioner can also take up any other matter, which in the opinion of commissioner is important for determination of correct income.
The board has resumed audit under section 177 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 with well-defined and clear criteria. For this purpose, a strict monitoring mechanism and transparent policy for selection of cases for audit has been implemented.