Foreign oil firm case: FBR flags CTO Islamabad’s negligence before FTO

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has expressed serious concern that the Corporate Tax Office (CTO) Islamabad has shown negligent attitude while dealing with a case of a foreign petroleum company before the Federal Tax Ombudsman, according to the FBR’s letter.

In this regard, the FBR has issued instructions to the CTO Islamabad.

The FBR’s Inland Revenue wing has noted with concern that Corporate Tax Office (CTO) Islamabad failed to properly respond to a formal complaint filed before Federal Tax Office, a lapse the Revenue Division has described as unbecoming of a responsible government office.

It is reliably learnt that in a letter Secretary IR-Litigation directed the Chief Commissioner-IR, CTO Islamabad, to file detailed para-wise comments on each point raised in a complaint before FTO.

FBR strongly worded letter stated “Such negligent attitude is not reflective of responsible official conduct. Instead of resorting to one liner response, para-wise comments be filed taking into consideration each observation in the complaint”.

The communication references an earlier order by the FTO dated November 11, 2025, in which the matter had already been referred to Member (IR-Operations with the observation that CTO Islamabad had failed to submit para-wise comments or a substantive reply to the contents of the complaint.

FBR directive suggests that the CTO had previously submitted only a cursory, one-line response to the complaint before FTO, a practice the FBR has now explicitly prohibited, instructing officials to address every observation raised in the complaint individually.

Legal experts are of the view that FBR’s own strongly worded letter while condemning “negligent attitude” and demanding para-wise responses, FBR has itself failed to adhere to the procedural standards it imposes on others. Accountability cannot be a one-way obligation. If FBR expects meticulous, observation-by-observation compliance from respondents, it must lead by example, not through threatening correspondence, but through demonstrated procedural integrity. An authority that abandons its own standards forfeits the moral and legal standing to enforce them against others, they opined.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026