Overseas widow at UAE complains about absence of FTO overseas adviser

ISLAMABAD: A senior overseas widow at United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approached the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) against the absence of FTO’s Overseas Adviser at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to plead her case against the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

An overseas Pakistani widow has formally raised concerns over what she terms “blatant and deliberate violations of law” in the selection of Advisers to FTO in several foreign jurisdictions.

According to the allegations, the FTO office has appointed Advisers in Canada, USA, Sweden, UK, Hong Kong, Finland, Spain, and Europe, yet no adviser has been appointed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a region with one of the largest Pakistani expatriate communities. The omission has reportedly raised serious questions among overseas Pakistanis.

A senior overseas widow residing in the UAE, who first highlighted the anomaly, has conveyed through her representative in Pakistan that the apparent selection process lacked transparency, fairness, and adherence to mandatory legal requirements, as per allegations.

When contacted, official sources informed Business Recorder that the appointment of the Honorary Advisors is the prerogative of the FTO under section 20 of the FTO ordinance.

Under section 20, Federal Tax Ombudsman may, in his discretion, fix an honorarium or remuneration of advisers, commissioners, consultants, experts, fellows, interns, liaison officers, bailiffs, and other staff engaged by him from time to time for the services rendered, it added.

There is no benchmark or criteria fixed for appointment of these Honorary Advisors in foreign jurisdictions because it is the sole prerogative of the FTO.

Moreover, there are no financial matters involved in their appointments because Honorary Advisors were not given any fixed salaries or facilities which could cause any revenue loss to the government at a later stage. Therefore, no finances are involved in their appointments.

The Honorary Advisors cannot process and investigate any complaints, but they can only refer the complaints to the FTO. They do not have any authority to take decisions and they are only working as ‘Coordinators”.

There are no finances of the state is involved in appointment of these Honorary Advisors. Even the Pakistani Advisors cannot take decisions ‘on their own’ and they can only make recommendations and final decision is being signed by the FTO.

The Honorary Advisors have the status of “coordinators” as they cannot process the complaint but can only forward the complaints to the FTO office, officials said.

The most important part of the story is that the taxpayers can easily file online complaints with the FTO from foreign tax jurisdictions without any cost. Any taxpayer in the UAE is free to file complaints through the FTO’s online system. Taxpayer has not been deprived from their right of filing complaints by not appointing Advisor in the UAE. Taxpayers can even file complaints without the presence of the Honorary Advisors in the foreign tax jurisdiction. Thus there is no cost for filing of online complaints from foreign tax judication where there is no Honorary Advisor, officials explained.

Official sources further disclosed that these are honorary positions and the individual must be active in that particular foreign tax judication. The honorary positions are not like regular government job assignments. The person must be popular and active in the business community of that country. The individual must have liaison with the Pakistani communities in that particular country. The person should have the capacity and ability to represent business community and taxpayers’ community. The person could be an advocate or an outstanding businessman, who is in contact with the Pakistani communities in that country. The Honorary Advisers must have the capacity to act like a bridge between overseas Pakistanis and FTO office in Pakistan, official sources added.

A tax expert shared legal references that, under Section 27 of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000, read with Section 21 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860, Advisers appointed by the FTO qualify as public servants. Any act that results in providing an illegal benefit in tax-related matters may constitute corruption and corrupt practices, as defined under Section 9(vi) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999.

Supreme Court of Pakistan has repeatedly laid down the “fit and proper” criterion for appointments to public offices across multiple landmark judgments. The overseas lady alleges that the FTO’s recent overseas appointments appear to violate these mandatory criteria, amounting to a prima facie contempt of the apex court’s binding rulings, tax expert added.

UAE based overseas Pakistani widow has reportedly urged the competent authorities to initiate an impartial inquiry into the matter and ensure that merit, transparency, and legal standards are upheld in all future appointments.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025