President orders equal tax benefits for manual filers
Sources within the FBR suggest that the extent of the fraud could be even higher than the reported Rs53 billion, a matter that can be ascertained during a comprehensive investigation. photo: AFP
The president has mandated that manual filers of income tax returns will now enjoy the same tax benefits as those filing electronically, while issuing a warning to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regarding maladministration and highlighting the federal tax ombudsman’s authority to intervene under the FTO Ordinance, 2000.
The decision came following the rejection of an appeal filed by the FBR against an order of the FTO, wherein the president emphasised the obligation of statutory bodies to operate within the bounds of the law. There is thus no valid justification to interfere with the order of the FTO.
Sources revealed that the initiative was prompted by Lahore-based tax lawyer, Waheed Shahzad Butt, who brought attention to the discrimination faced by manual filers before the FBR and FTO.
Waheed Butt’s efforts culminated in consultations between FTO officials and FBR executives, leading to the resolution of the issue without resorting to costly litigation.
Waheed Butt further emphasised that Dr Asif Jah, the FTO, has mandated the FBR to implement specific mechanisms and establish Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure the activation of all manual filers’ income tax returns for the latest tax year, in accordance with the Active Taxpayers List (ATL) issued by the FBR.
Despite the FBR’s obligation to ensure fair and equitable taxation for all citizens, it has been revealed that manual filers of tax returns have been subjected to unlawful discrimination compared to electronically filed returns.
This failure to address the specific needs of this segment of the taxpayers has elicited sharp criticism from various quarters. A categorical written intimation/information regarding the violation of Rule 73 of Income Tax Rules 2002 by the FBR and the illegal exclusion of some taxpayers from the ATL database, was moved but all in vain.
The FBR, in direct violation of Rule 73, has deemed/ treated the manually filed income tax return as “inactive,” despite it being filed within the time specified by law, Butt added.
He said that the FBR should implement substantial measures to rectify these shortcomings and issues. This would benefit the general public and other individuals or taxpayers who experience such injustices, even though they have filed their returns.
“The recommendations of the FTO to adopt some mechanism and put in place an SOP to ensure that all filers of returns for the latest tax year are active as per ATL issued by the board are unassailable.” the president ordered that the representation was liable to be rejected with these observations.