FBR’s Rs3.5tr tax claims stuck in litigations, IHC told

AGP apprises CJ Minallah 90,426 revenue cases pending at different forums

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court was informed on Tuesday that around Rs3.5 trillion of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) tax revenue claims were stuck in litigations.

This was informed during a meeting of top government functionaries summoned by Chief Justice Athar Minallah in the backdrop of the federal cabinet’s concerns over pendency of matters wherein billions of rupees of the state exchequer were involved.

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan, and chairmen of FBR, Competition Commission of Pakistan and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority were in attendance.

The IHC registrar had asked the officials concerned to inform the meeting about the latest position of the pending cases.

During the meeting, AGP Khalid furnished the details of pending FBR litigations and customs cases.

Also read: Tarin directs FBR to settle tax issues

According to the data, around 80 per cent of FBR’s tax revenue claims were pending at internal forums of the tax collection body like the collector commissioners and appellate tribunals.

The FBR data revealed that until January 25, a total of 90,426 tax cases were pending at different forums wherein Rs3,303,740 million revenue claims were involved.

Of the Rs3.5 trillion, Rs2,556 billion tax claims were pending at appellate tribunals and collector commissioners.

A total of 58,937 matters were pending in appellate tribunals wherein Rs950 billion tax revenue was involved, while 19,523 cases were pending in collector commissioners in which Rs1,606 billion tax revenue was claimed by the FBR.

“Around Rs410 billion of tax revenue claims are stuck in superior courts.” A total of 2,959 cases were pending in the Supreme Court wherein Rs72.208 billion tax revenue was involved.

Up to 1,298 FBR cases were pending in the IHC in which Rs232.66 billion tax claims were involved.
In the Sindh High Court (SHC), 2,238 cases were pending while Rs195.49 billion tax revenue was involved.

Also read: Govt policies hurt tax revenue: FBR

A total of tax claims amounting Rs234.71 billion in 5,133 cases were pending in the Lahore High Court (LHC). In the Peshawar High Court (PHC), 317 cases were pending wherein Rs76.04 billion tax revenue was claimed by the FBR. In the Balochistan High Court (BHC), 21 FBR cases were pending wherein Rs4 billion tax revenue was claimed.

Regarding details of pending litigation customs cases, the government informed that a total of 17,642 cases were pending wherein Rs273.67 billion tax duty was claimed by the department.

In the apex court, 1,434 customs cases were pending wherein around Rs10 billion of the state exchequer was involved.

In the IHC, 147 cases of Rs.06 billion tax duty were pending. Some 5,441 cases were pending in the SHC wherein Rs105.98 billion revenue was involved.

In the LHC, 568 cases were pending wherein Rs7.7 billion of the state exchequer was involved while in the PHC, 583 cases were pending wherein Rs1.3 billion tax claims were involved.

In the BHC, 110 cases were pending while Rs68 million tax duty was claimed by the FBR. In collector appeals, 718 cases were pending while Rs6.2 billion tax revenue was involved. In customs appellate tribunals, 4,640 cases were pending while Rs82 billion tax duty was involved.