The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is planning to launch, by March 2011, the e-system to deposit refund payments directly into taxpayers'' bank accounts, Business Recorder learnt on Saturday. According to sources, the gap between issuance of refund pay orders and release of refund cheques is some time far more than the seven days stipulated time frame.
Hence the board is contemplating to launch e-system by March 2011 to deposit refund payments directly into taxpayers'' bank accounts. They said that this move, which was recommended by foreign lenders to minimise human interaction in taxation machinery, would ensure that the unprocessed refund claims would be diminished soon as the stock of unprocessed refund claims are growing and create serious distortions.
Moreover, sources said, the board is making all-out efforts to reduce the number of refund claims rather than the total amount of pending cases as about 3 percent of the pending claims account for 80 percent of the total amount claimed.
They said the tax departments, which had earlier started crediting tax refund amount up to Rs 50,000 directly into the taxpayers'' bank accounts on the directives of chairman FBR by last January, have so far deposited thousands of refund cheques in this connection. They further said the board is now going to practise the same exercise in a broader way to provide maximum relief to the registered persons.