ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) has referred a case to chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), to address the glitches and flaws in the FBR electronic system known as “IRIS.”
It is reliably learnt that a constitutional petition has been moved in IHC through a Lahore based lawyer, Waheed Shahzad Butt, against the tax authorities including Commissioner-IR, Deputy Commissioner-IR (DCIR), Islamabad and Member (IT). The petition was filed by a taxpayer seeking income tax refunds and implementation of order issued by Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR), Islamabad to highlight the role of some FBR/ PRAL/IT-Wing employees in maltreatment, who allegedly changed ATL status of taxpayer.
The FTO has unearthed a wrong act committed by tax employees by framing an illegal case of “Inactive” status to a company without issuing/serving statutory notices.
It is a fact conceded by PRAL that assignment notice under section 120(3) in the instance case was not electronically delivered in the folder of the taxpayer. Department has failed to prove that the notice in question was served. Department instead of shouldering responsibility for non-service of said notice preferred to hide behind IT system failure. It can be concluded that PRAL’s stance on this material issue is riddled with contradictions. Tax authorities/officers passing legal orders are responsible for proper service of notices and any hiding behind software glitches and failures is not justifiable.”
The FTO report questioned how the name of Ahmed Shakeel Babar DCIR was appearing on the notice when the said officer was never posted in the said unit. Department couldn’t explain any plausible reason for incorporation of the name of an unrelated officer in the notice and termed it a mere IT distortion.
IHC order states, “The key prayer of the petitioner was that the facts as asserted by the petitioner be referred to the FTO with a direction that the actions of the respondents be investigated as they constitute maladministration. The Ombudsman in compliance with the order of the court has submitted a report. In the report, the Ombudsman has identified various flaws in the manner in which the PRAL system works and has recommended that the FBR address such flaws.
In view of the recommendations of the Ombudsman there is nothing remaining that needs to be done by this court. Let a copy of the report of the Ombudsman be sent to the chairman FBR to consider if any steps need to be taken to address the glitches and flaws in the FBR system that have been identified.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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