ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has devised a new strategy for filing of review petitions/ representations before the president against the orders of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO).
Over 95 percent orders of the FTO have been confirmed by the president which has facilitated the general masses as well as business community.
The FBR has issued instructions to all Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, Director Generals-IR and Commissioners-Inland Revenue (Appeals) on Monday.
President endorses FTO’s order against FBR
Sources told Business Recorder that the president had confirmed 95 percent orders of the FTO against the FBR during 2022. The trend of confirmation of orders of the FTO by the president of Pakistan has been increased every year. In 2022, the FBR/ complainants have filed 461 representations against the FTO orders with the president during 2022. The total number of cases disposed of by the FTO stood at 6,106 during 2022.
The FBR’s has implemented a standing operating procedure (SOP) for processing of the FTO cases here on Monday.
The FBR has observed during the processing of review petition/representation that the time line given by the Legal Wing for submission of proposals to the Board for filing of review petition/representation against FTO findings/recommen-dations is not being adhered. The reviews or representations from field formations is usually received on the last date or a day before its expiry. This leaves the Legal Wing with no time to properly analyze the grounds/facts of the case.
Furthermore, it has also been noticed that some field formations do not mention the date of receiving findings/recommendations of the FTO while sending their representation /review to the Board. It is pertinent to mention that as per instructions notified by the FTO, physical documents and orders of the FTO have been replaced with online orders/documents. Therefore, representation/review against FTO order has to be filed from the date of posting of the order online on the FTO portal or receipt of the same via email to the FTO representative of the concerned formation.
In future, if recommendations of the FTO are not acceptable, the review petition/representation to the FTO/president should reach the Board at least 10 days before the expiry of the prescribed time limit with all supporting documents mentioned in the review/represen-tation with proper index and the cover letter should clearly include the date of receiving of the FTO recommendations, the FBR maintained.
Lastly, all documents/replies/para-wise comments have to be uploaded on the FTO portal by FTO representative of all formations of Inland Revenue, the FBR added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023