ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has proposed to give all basic administrative powers of income tax law to the Additional/Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue and Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue under the simplification and harmonization of Inland Revenue’s tax statutes.

Sources told Business Recorder that the new powers to the Additional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue and Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue have been proposed under draft amendments to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. This is a very important change proposed in the income tax law by ending the practice of delegation of powers of the Commissioner Inland Revenue to the Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue and Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue.

The change will also harmonize the Income Tax Ordinance with the Sales Tax Act and the Federal Excise Act, they said.

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Under the draft amendments to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, the Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue and Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue would not be required to take prior approval of Commissioner Inland Revenue for exercising certain powers of the income tax law.

Presently, Income Tax Ordinance deals with the delegation of the powers of the Commissioner Inland Revenue to the subordinate officials. Once independent powers are available to the Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue and Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue, there would be no need to delegate powers in each case.

In this regard, many amendments have been proposed in the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, they added.

In section 239B, the following new sub-sections shall be added, namely,- “(2) Any Deputy commissioner who after coming into force of the Finance Act, 2023 is competent to exercise the powers including issuance of notice, assessment, imposition of penalty and default surcharge, registration, collection and recovery, refund, audit, rectification, filing of appeal or prosecution under the ordinance, shall exercise powers of issuance of notices, assessment, imposition of penalty and default surcharge, registration, collection and recovery, refund, audit, revision, appeal or prosecution as were available to the Commissioner till 30th day of June, 2023. (3) Any order issued or treated to have been issued by the Commissioner till 30th day of June, 2023 shall be deemed to be an order issued or treated to have been issued by the Deputy Commissioner for the purposes of assessment, recovery, filing and disposal of appeal, reference, rectification or revision by or before any Inland Revenue authority, Appellate Tribunal or any court.

Under the proposed section 122E ( Amendment by the Additional Commissioner) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, where the Additional Commissioner considers that any order issued or treated to have been issued by the Deputy Commissioner is erroneous in so far as it is prejudicial to the interests of revenue, he may after making, or causing to be made, such enquiry as he deems necessary, pass such order thereon as the circumstances of the case justify, including an order enhancing or modifying the assessment, or cancelling the assessment and directing a fresh assessment to be made, it added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023