KARACHI: The Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has expressed deep concerns over flaws in new online system ‘IRIS’, launched by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for filing Income Tax Returns.
The KTBA President Syed Waseem-ud-din Hashmi has expressed apprehension over the flaws in IRIS system, which is not allowing the e-intermediaries to file Income Tax Returns of the clients.
Hashmi was of the view that the e-intermediaries who are the member of this bar were facing problems with ‘IRIS’ that restricting the use of sub-users accounts which is usually operated through a master account as used by every e-intermediary in terms of section 223 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
Moreover, he said each firm of professionals who has a large number of clients and registered at the web portal as e-intermediary should be allowed sub-users activity so that Income Tax Returns for the Tax Year-2014 could be filed on behalf of their clients without further loss of time.
“The filing of Income Tax Returns was a clerical job and anyone of a partner level or senior level professional cannot perform this job as his/her time was highly precious which needs to be spent on more important tasks and assignments,” he said adding that the partners and seniors need to delegate return preparation authority to staff working under their control as they are allowed access to the master ID, password and pin-code.
Hashmi further said that the officials of members before the advent of ‘IRIS’, were enjoying the status of an e-intermediary, used to access the web portal through their respective sub-user, but now the IRIS has been creating numerous problems for them.
He urged the FBR authorities that the login via Master Account ID by all sub-users creates a number of security/administrative issues for the principal e-intermediary, as the staff logging in via the Master Account can delete clients from the e-intermediary clients’ data base available at the web-portal. Also such staff can create further sub-user accounts at the web-portal and there will be no control/track as to which staff has e-filed which client’s tax returns/withholding tax statement and other documents such as PSID etc.
The President KTBA has requested the chairman FBR that sub-users accounts’ access should be provided for filing the Income Tax Returns in the best interest of revenue collection.
