ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has claimed to have found major discrepancies in the National Testing Service (NTS) tax return declarations and bank account statements.
The FBR confiscated four main computer servers, various drafts and laptops in a raid on Monday. The FBR said that the testing service’s financial affairs were scrutinised under section 176 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. It further clarified that under section 175 of the Income Tax Ordinance, the bureau has full access to a company’s premises, accounts, other related documents, inventories and computers.
NTS documents related to both income and sales tax were examined and the findings were less than rosy for the testing service, especially since they had claimed in the past that all their transactions were transparent, according to the FBR statement.
The FBR statement reiterated that all steps taken were strictly in accordance with the law, and no illegality was committed by the bureau.
The FBR statement came soon after NTS Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sherzada Khan, in a presser at the National Press Club, claimed that the raid was illegal and the NTS would be approaching the court against it.
NTS has been crippled after the FBR raid as their operations have come to an abrupt halt following the confiscation of their main servers. These servers contained data pertaining to test results and examination details of thousands of students who now have no other choice but to wait.
The testing service has decided to move the Islamabad High Court against, what they deem, an ‘illegal’ headquarter raid. “The FBR raid was completely illegal and they cannot do what they did,” the NTS chief maintained.
