FBR not pursuing its cases ‘seriously’: SC

Court says it wants to dispose of revenue cases quickly but board is not properly assisting it for this purpose

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was not pursuing its cases seriously.

The court noted it wanted to dispose of revenue cases expeditiously but the board was not properly assisting it for this purpose.

“The SC had directed the FBR to send its relevant officer with its record, but the additional in-land revenue additional commissioner, who appeared before in the court, was unable to respond to the queries,” read an order authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The judge further directed that copies of the order be sent to the finance secretary, the FBR chairman as well as all members of the board.

The court dismissed the FBR’s appeal against income tax exemption and upheld the tribunal's decision.

Earlier this month, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial had taken took notice of a report which disclosed that about Rs3.5 trillion of the FBR’s tax revenue claims were stuck in litigations.

CJP Bandial had directed the FBR to submit a report on the veracity of the information mentioned in the news story and submit a report through the Attorney General for Pakistan office within a week.

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

The FBR data had 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; 19,523 cases were pending in collector commissioners in which Rs1,606 billion tax revenue was claimed by the FBR.

Tax revenue claims of around Rs410 billion were 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 Islamabad High Court in which Rs232.66 billion tax claims were involved.

In the Sindh High Court, 2,238 cases were pending while Rs195.49 billion tax revenue was involved.

Tax claims amounting to a total of Rs234.71 billion in 5,133 cases were pending in the Lahore High Court. In the Peshawar High Court, 317 cases were pending wherein Rs76.04 billion tax revenue was claimed by the FBR. In the Balochistan High Court, 21 FBR cases were pending wherein Rs4 billion tax revenue was claimed.