Curbing bogus refund claims: FTO advises CBR to maintain proper record

Federal Tax Ombudsman former Justice Munir A Sheikh has advised the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to maintain proper record of orders-in-original, show-cause notices and their proper service to the concerned parties so that no one could file bogus refund claims.
He gave this advice while deciding a complaint of a textile manufacturer, importer and exporter, who had filed four refund applications with the Sales Tax Department, Faisalabad.
The complainant had claimed that show-cause notices were neither issued nor served in any of the four cases. Similarly, the orders-in-original were also not received by him.
However, after three lengthy hearings and perusal of record of the Sales Tax Department, the FTO found that Sales Tax Department properly served the show-cause notices on the complainant and the finalisation of the orders-in-original on the available material was not unjustified.
He did not discern any mal-administration on the part of the department and rejected contentions of the complainant. The FTO, however, pointed out a number of discrepancies in the documents maintained by the sales tax department for proper service of show-cause notices and orders-in-original to the concerned parties.
He also indicated collusion between the office staff of the sales tax department and the parties who file illegal refund claims.
HE ADVISED THE CBR TO ISSUE INSTRUCTIONS TO ITS SUBORDINATE OFFICERS TO OBTAIN THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WHENEVER A NOTICE IS REFUSED AND SENT BACK TO THE DEPARTMENT: (i)The date on which the service was attempted, (ii) The name of the person attempting the service, (iii) The name of the person, who refused the service, and (iv) The stamp of the courier service. The FTO called for the compliance report of these recommendations with 30 days.