ISLAMABAD: The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has addressed the grievances of the taxpayers by processing 8,963 cases with an implementation status of 94.07 percent during 2023 as compared to 73.29 percent last year.

Furthermore, requests for refund claims were also decided to the tune of Rs17.742 billion in 2023 and the due amount was paid to the aggrieved taxpayers by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). This was highlighted by FTO Asif Mahmood Jah, who called on President Dr Arif Alvi and presented FTO’s Annual Report 2023, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, on Wednesday.

The FTO briefed the president about the FTO’s overall performance and its key initiatives to facilitate taxpayers and expeditiously address their grievances against maladministration of tax officials.

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He stated that concerted efforts were undertaken to enhance FTO’s outreach by launching awareness campaigns and opening up regional offices in the country. He informed that honorary advisors had also been appointed abroad to facilitate overseas Pakistanis in the USA, Canada, Sweden, UAE, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.

He added that FTO had appointed leading businessmen as honorary advisors from various Chambers of Commerce and Industries to facilitate the business community. “To ensure prompt response against the maladministration of tax authorities, a mobile App has been developed enabling aggrieved complainants to lodge complaints and check their status using mobile/smart devices,” he stated.

He apprised that highly informative training sessions had also been conducted to enhance the professional skills and expertise of Ombudsman institutions in the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024