LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has reserved a verdict against the Tax Amnesty Scheme by the Government of Pakistan.
Justice Shahid Kareem of the Lahore High Court (LHC) heard the appeal filed by Shiraz Zaka Advocate in which the counsel for appellant argued that the government has introduced the Tax Amnesty Scheme for the provision of tax exemption to the traders.
The purpose of the Tax Amnesty Scheme was to smooth sailing for those traders who did pay their tax liabilities and became defaulters since many years. Despite the arrest of the tax defaulters, the government has introduced the scheme to give them relief. He appealed the court to declare null and void this illegal scheme for the betterment of the national economy.
Zaka said that, under the scheme, traders were given exemption from audit as well as filing wealth statement until 2018. He said that, instead of bringing structural reforms, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was giving a cushion to the traders.
On the other side, counsel on government behalf argued that the Tax Amnesty Scheme has been introduced to widen the tax net instead of facilitating the taxpayers and the parliament has also authorized the provision of the Tax Amnesty Scheme to the taxpayers.
As per rules, the consultation with the federal cabinet is not mandatory and he asked for the rejection of the appeal against the Tax Amnesty Scheme.
After hearing the arguments from both complainant and respondent, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has reserved the judgment in the case.
