LAHORE: The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has postponed the hearing of a case filed by M/s Asif Flour Mills against the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Gujranwala until the next date.
According to the details, FTO Advisor Mian Munawar Ghafoor heard the case FTO-LHR0000124/17 filed by Bilal Naseer Cheema, M/s Asif Flour Mills. The counsel for the appellant argued that the RTO had failed to release the sales tax refund to the appellant for the last two years.
He said that RTO Gujranwala collected excessive tax from the company during the last two years. The petitioner approached the officials concerned several times for issuance of the refunds, but the RTO officials failed to clear the refunds after the passage of a reasonable time.
Finally, the appellant decided to approach the FTO seeking interference in this case. The counsel appealed the FTO advisor to direct the RTO Gujranwala to clear the refund claims.
The counsel further said that the delay in issuance of refunds put burden on the taxpayers, adding that the RTO should make audit of the cases and release the extra amount collected by it from the taxpayer.
On the other hand, counsel for RTO argued that the appellant has not submitted all record in the office for claiming refunds. If appellant provides accurate record, the RTO will issue the refunds after proper assessment, he added.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, FTO adjourned the case of M/s Asif Flour Mills until next date for further hearing and directed the parties to appear before him on said date to present arguments in the case.
