ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will defend its stance on non-implementation of recommendations of Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) tomorrow (Thursday) October 2 regarding solution of different cases.
FBR Member Legal Ahmad Dildar and Member Planning Nisar Muhammad Khan would appear before the FTO on the issue. The FTO is a critical component of welfare states with adequate focus on service delivery at national and sub-national levels. Disposal of complaints of tax maladministration promptly, justly, fairly, independently investigated, and to rectify any injustice done to a taxpayer by actions of the tax employees of FBR and Revenue Division falls under its ambit. The Ombudsman’s institution in Pakistan is not to compete with the courts, or act as a further body to which those unsuccessful in the courts can appeal.
A well-placed source at the FBR Tuesday said that FTO had sought explanation from the FBR over the non-implementation of its recommendations on 28 cases since last one year. The FTO is of the view that as per its law all of its recommendations were binding on FBR to be implemented within 60 days of issuance. On the other side, the FBR has stance that recommendations of FTO on the said cases could not be implemented because it involved heavy amount of refunds and FBR had filed a petition with the President of Pakistan in this regard.
