LAHORE: Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) leadership has urged Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to look into the matter of change in the IRIS module making compulsory for the tax payers to work out their tax liability under section 7E personally, and issue directions to the relevant authorities to provide ease to the tax payers in submitting their tax returns.
In a letter, PTBA President Rana Munir Hussain and Secretary General Ch Qamar-Uz Zaman said the IRIS module on the portal has been changed to make it compulsory for the tax payers to worked out their tax liability under section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, which is illegal and without lawful authority.
When a large number of returns for the Tax Year 2023, have been submitted through IRIS 2.0, a check has been imposed on 1st September 2023 to make it mandatory to fill/ submit Form of 7E about capital assets before the filing of return of income for the tax year 2023.
Glitches in IRIS 2.0: Timely filing of returns to be near impossible
It is also pertinent to mention here that all the properties (Capital Assets) as declared in the wealth statement, wherein returns have been successfully submitted, have been removed, which act is not understandable as the said act on the part of the FBR is not only illegal but also tantamount to maladministration because, after the filing of any return of income, all the fields should have been blocked, whereas the said change in the data of return has been done under some unknown provision of law.
This sort of action at the end of the FBR, is a big question mark on the performance of the officers/ officials which shall ultimately be actionable on the part of the responsible(s) as the said action is not supported by any legal/ lawful interpretation and such type action to temper the confidential data of taxpayer will render the civil, as well as, criminal liability on the part of the FBR.
The PTBA leadership said the Form of 7E pertaining to immovable properties, is an independent Form and a separate taxation mechanism under the law which is liable to be filed independently.
If any person/ taxpayer has some reservations about the legality of the law/ legislation, then he has the right to challenge it while ignoring its payment as a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
However, after considering the position of the legislation of section 7E, as well as, the court’s decision, we feel that the FBR authorities cannot force anyone to pay it mandatory for filing of return of income; hence, the aforesaid changes made in the system are totally illegal and unlawful, said the letter.
It would not be out of place to mention that both Sindh High Court and Lahore High Court have declared the provision of section 7E as intra vires, which are pending adjudication before Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Therefore, they said, no taxpayer can be compelled to worked out liability u/s 7E and such type of amendment related to taxpayers falling under the contempt of Court.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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