ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) introduced rules for making payment of income tax refunds directly to taxpayers’ bank account.
The FBR issued SRO 175(I)/2021 dated February 10, 2021 to notify draft amendments to Income Tax Rules, 2002.
According to the draft rules, a Centralized Income Tax Refund Office (CITRO) would be established for centralized payment of refunds.
After completing all codal formalities the Commissioner Inland Revenue shall pass an order under Section 170(4) and transmit the order to CITRO. The same shall be reflected in CITRO in real time.
The CITRO shall generate an electronic advice of approve amount for onwards submission to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) through dedicated VPN tunnel established between FBR and SBP. The SBP shall credit amount directly to the account of taxpayer.
The SBP shall confirm the transfer of amount to the taxpayers account or vice versa electronically to CITRO.
The CITRO shall reconcile the payments issued as per instructions during the month with the electronic scrolls received from the SBP and record the outcome of such reconciliation in the system.
Where any payment instruction is returned back by the SBP due to any reason, the CITRO shall transmit the same to concerned commissioner for correction in payment instructions.
The FBR shall ensure that complete data of refunds issued is made available to the concerned commissioner electronically.
