LAHORE: Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr. Asif Mehmood Jah has said that FTO Office disposed of record 4000 cases of tax issues in the last 11 months and there was significant increase in number of people approaching the Office.
Talking to media, he said the cases were decided without any delay and complainants did not need lawyers to present their case before the tax ombudsman.
Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah said the tax ombudsman institution was established decades ago to specifically resolve people’s problems and provide prompt relief to complainants.
He said “The FTO office did receive 4,600 tax-related, out of which I solved 4,000 cases, which is unprecedented in the last 22 years.”
He said that the number of cases never surpassed 3,000 over the years, but this time, 4,600 cases were reported in one year, which reflected the public’s trust in the institution.
He said: “I have solved the problems on telephone calls as well. If any one’s container is stuck, he/she can directly complain to me through phone call, message. I have resolved the issues on the spot.”
He said that for the first time, the government had appointed a person who had a relevant background as a tax ombudsman.
He said : ”I have worked in the Customs Department for 29 years, so I am well aware of genuine problems.”
“The trust will be restored and now the four thousand cases that I have decided, did provide relief to people, “he added.
He pointed out that a worker of Radio Pakistan complained that his salary was just 30 thousand rupees and 20% tax was being deducted from it.
“A person who has a salary of Rs30,000 and 4,000 tax is deducted, so there are problems for him “, he added.
He said “On the complaint of the employee, we reviewed all the laws, and found that wrong tax deduction is being done because the income up to 6 lakhs per year does not come in the tax slab.”
He said that “I first implemented it in my office and after that I sent this decision to the Accountant General of Pakistan and it benefited lacs of employees.”
“An important issue regarding tax on vehicles came to my attention that when the vehicles were booked there was a tax of 12% and when the vehicles were delivered, it was different.”
“So at that time the tax rate was increased to 17%, so I decided that the 5% tax was taken illegally and should be refunded,” he added.
