KARACHI: Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has requested the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the deadline for submission of tax refunds under PM's Covid-19 package.

In a letter to the chairman of the FBR, KTBA said that taxpayers are able to receive refunds relating to tax year 2014 till tax year 2019 due to FBR's "No Refund Left Behind" policy and Prime Minister's Covid-19 Relief Package.

It said that the tax offices were recently directed to submit the list of verified tax refunds (pending) by September 28 for further processing by the FBR.

However, it has become challenging for the tax officers, KTBA members and taxpayers to efficiently pursue their cases and conduct the verification of information available in the records of the FBR due to the recent transfer of officers and tax refund cases within and across different tax offices - LTUs, RTOs, CRTOs.

Although the tax officers concerned and the taxpayers are making efforts to verify and compile the list of tax refunds for further processing within the timeline, yet the tax officers who have recently been assigned the cases of tax refunds are facing immense difficulties in retrieving information from the offices where the process for tax refund verification was previously initiated. Besides, the taxpayers are also encountering different challenges.

The KTBA requested the FBR to extend the date for compilation of tax refunds from September 28 until the time when necessary funds are made available to the respective tax offices for issuance of tax refunds.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020