ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has adopted a new strategy for filing review petitions/representations before the President against the orders of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO).
In this regard, the FBR has issued instructions to all Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, Director Generals, and Commissioners-Inland Revenue (Appeals) on Monday on the standing operating procedure (SOP) for processing the FTO cases.
According to the FBR’s instructions, it was observed during the processing of the Review Petition/Representation that the timeline given by the Legal Wing for submission of proposals to the Board for filing of Review Petition/Representation against FTO findings/Recommendations is not being adhered to. The reviews or representations from field formations are usually received on the last date or a day before their expiry.
This leaves the Legal Wing with no time to properly analyze the grounds/facts of the case.
Furthermore, it was also 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 an 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 the future, if the 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/Representation with proper index and the cover letter should clearly include the date of receiving of the FTO recommendations, FBR maintained.
Lastly, all documents/replies/para-wise comments have to be uploaded on the FTO portal by the FTO representative of all formations of MR under intimation to this office. In addition to the hard copy mailed, soft copy (Ms. Word Document) of all representations requested to be filed by all formations may also be sent to the FBR, the Board added.
