ISLAMABAD: Federal Tax Ombudsman Abdur Rauf Chaudhry said that the FTO was closely monitoring the income tax and sales tax refunds paid in 2013-14 and relevant data was being regularly obtained from the Large Taxpayer Units and Regional Tax Offices to clear the backlog at earliest.
Responding queries, the FTO said that he was well aware of the investigation conducted by the former FTO regarding gross and net revenue collection figures reported by the FBR in the past.
The FTO Office has gone through all the investigation conducted by his predecessor in a case of FBR’s gross and net revenue collection figures in the past. When asked what the FTO Office is doing to avert cases of figure fudging, he stated that the FTO Office was actively watching the sales tax refund payments and revenue collection. However, it needs to be seen whether FBR’s field formations data on refund payments is credible.
He said that the FTO office had already taken up the matter of pending refunds with the FBR Chairman while the relevant was being sought directly from the FBR’s field formations, adding that the FTO again intended to meet the FBR chairman to discuss the issue of pending refunds.
The FTO Office is also actively interacting with the trade associations and chambers to address their issues relating to maladministration by tax department and other issues like refunds. The FTO has met business representatives of Karachi, Sialkot and Faisalabad etc and plan to visit Multan and other cities. During the interaction with the business and trade, pending refund claims was top issue highlighted by chambers, etc.
In 2012, taxpayers had filed 1,600 complaints against the tax department. Out of these complaints 80 percent of the decisions were given in favour of the FTO Office. Around 60 percent of the complaints were related to the delayed or pending sales tax refunds. Similarly, the FTO Office had received 1,600 complaints against the tax department during 2013.
The FTO said the government was considering reduction in the rates of sales tax and income tax which would ultimately broaden the tax base in the country. If tax rates are brought down, it will be instrumental in expanding the tax-base.
