FBR functionaries who are committing access while conducting raids under section 38-b will have to face the music
LAHORE: Discretionary powers are not illegal and are integral part of law, however, where Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) functionaries are committing access while conducting raids under section 38-b they will have to face the music. Board has shifted its focus from the filers to the non-filers towards end. Customs Chief Collectorates has been facing issues in collecting revenue which is due to the government’s decision of abolishing tax on oil products and the shortfall will be met by the Inland Revenue.
These views were expressed by Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Dr. Muhammad Irshad, while talking to Customs Today here during his visit to the Customs House and Regional Tax Offices of Lahore including LTU and Directorate General of Training & Research (DGTR).
He said that due to the government’s decision of exempting the oil products from taxes the customs Central Region is unable to achieve targets, however, the interaction with the collector and the office of the chief collector will certainly prove instrumental in making alternative arrangements in order to achieve the financial year’s targets. Irshad said that overall the collection FBR collections of revenue are also going very well and the board will achieve its target of the financial year.
To a question about discretionary powers of FBR officers and raids under section 38b, the chairman said that discretion is an integral part of the law, nevertheless, so far as the raids under section 38-b are concerned, we have taken notice of it and reanalyzing it.
“If any of our functionaries are misusing power, a strong action will be taken against such elements; unfortunately, our raiding teams have detected a numbers of discrepancies where raids were conducted which is also surprising,” the FBR chairman stated, adding that where the raids are being conducted they should also be careful.
To a question about he said that disputes of tax collection between FBR and PRA, the FBR chairman answered that FBR has no conflict with PRA both the organizations have reach to an understanding this year and no issue has been seen for the last three month as cross adjustment of their input is being done.
“Institutionally, we have no issue between the two organizations right now as we have resolved all bottlenecks with the system, there may be some issue on individual level and we will defiantly look into it to resolve the issue,” Dr Irshad said.
Meanwhile, in answer to a question of a newsman about revenue collection difficulties, he said that we have not been facing any issue in revenue collection, we are going well with the target, however, we have also made arrangement in order to revenue from whatever available source is there, either it is auction of seized non-customs paid vehicles or the other goods and articles, he said, concluding that we are approaching towards the end of the financial year and have shifted our focus from the filers to the non-filers.
