'Filers can lodge complaints with FTO against tax officials'

Advisor Federal Tax Ombudsman Karachi Region, Manzoor Hussain Qureshi has said that the tax filers can lodge complaints with Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) against tax officials over violating rules of income tax, sales tax, custom duty, federal excise duty and refunds of taxes within period of six months. He said this while addressing the business community at Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI).
He said that tax filers could pursue their cases themselves after lodging with Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) rather than hiring advocates. The FTO's job is to provide justice to tax filers by disposing the complaints regarding tax issues of business community and other persons, he said.
It has received 1502 complaints of different nature and 75 per cent of them have been decided in favour of tax filers, he said, adding Advisors FTO has responsible to get those decisions implemented. Besides, Tax filers can file review petition within 30 days, he said, adding FTO secretariats have been set up at Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad and Sukkur and temporary set up has been made at Hyderabad to hear complaints of tax filers. Earlier, Senior Vice President HCCI, Turab Ali Khawaja appreciated the FTO role for addressing issues of Tax filers. HCCI members Sayed Nihal Shah, Lal Chand, Tariq Shah and others were present on the occasion.