Taxpayer refunds: FBR rejects tax ombudsman report
Stresses finance minister is not controlling refund payments
Federal Board of Revenue. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
The government has rebuked a claim made by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) office that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was controlling the release of refunds and has insisted that payment of refunds is purely a technical and administrative issue.
“The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) takes a strong exception to the attempt to give a political tinge to the matter of payable refunds, which is a purely technical and administrative issue,” said a statement issued by the tax-collecting agency.
This comes after an FTO report observed that Dar was directly controlling the release of taxpayer refunds with an aim to inflate revenue collection. “Approval to issue the refund cheques is being obtained from the finance minister,” the report said.
However, the FBR claimed that there was “no evidence to support the allegation that refunds are being withheld to artificially inflate collections of the FBR.”
Contrary to this claim, the FBR’s Jan-Mar review report shows a huge reduction in refund payments. “During January-March 2015-16, 33% lesser refunds have been paid compared to the corresponding period of last year,” showed the report.
Only Rs60.3 billion worth of refunds were cleared in Jan-Mar this year compared with Rs90 billion in the comparative period of previous year.
The FBR insisted in its statement that if the finance minister was controlling the refunds, he would not have announced zero-rated status for the five export-oriented sectors in his budget speech for the next financial year.
It said the minister had also announced that all refund cases of exporters where refund payment orders had been processed by April 30 would be cleared by August 31, 2016.
“The FBR is performing its role as the premier revenue collecting agency of the country without any interference by the finance ministry,” it added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2016.
The government has rebuked a claim made by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) office that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was controlling the release of refunds and has insisted that payment of refunds is purely a technical and administrative issue.
“The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) takes a strong exception to the attempt to give a political tinge to the matter of payable refunds, which is a purely technical and administrative issue,” said a statement issued by the tax-collecting agency.
This comes after an FTO report observed that Dar was directly controlling the release of taxpayer refunds with an aim to inflate revenue collection. “Approval to issue the refund cheques is being obtained from the finance minister,” the report said.
However, the FBR claimed that there was “no evidence to support the allegation that refunds are being withheld to artificially inflate collections of the FBR.”
Contrary to this claim, the FBR’s Jan-Mar review report shows a huge reduction in refund payments. “During January-March 2015-16, 33% lesser refunds have been paid compared to the corresponding period of last year,” showed the report.
Only Rs60.3 billion worth of refunds were cleared in Jan-Mar this year compared with Rs90 billion in the comparative period of previous year.
The FBR insisted in its statement that if the finance minister was controlling the refunds, he would not have announced zero-rated status for the five export-oriented sectors in his budget speech for the next financial year.
It said the minister had also announced that all refund cases of exporters where refund payment orders had been processed by April 30 would be cleared by August 31, 2016.
“The FBR is performing its role as the premier revenue collecting agency of the country without any interference by the finance ministry,” it added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2016.