Former president Lahore Tax Bar Association (LTBA) Zahid Attiq Chaudhry has alleged that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was unnecessarily delaying refund cases of over Rs 200 billion to show fake growth. He said that claim of 25 per cent increase in revenue collection during first four months of the current financial year was nothing but jugglery of words.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, he said that the FBR taking support of delayed refund was hoodwinking both the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said that GST was increased by one per cent while further tax and extra-tax rates were also enhanced in the budget for the year 2013-14 so the increase in revenue collection was a natural thing. However, Zahid Attiq claimed that this was not a real growth in the collection by the FBR.
Former LTBA leader also alleged that the FBR was holding on refunds of over Rs 200 billion to show increase in its collection to meet the conditions of the IMF. He further alleged that the target of the FBR for first four months was Rs 670 billion while it had collected only Rs 630 billion, which shows that in actual its collection had decreased. He demanded of the government and the FBR to ensure immediate payment of delayed refunds.