President endorses FTO decision in ST fraud case

President Asif Zardari has endorsed the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) directions to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to constitute a team of experts to implement an information technology (IT)-based system to eliminate fake/flying sales tax invoices.

The order of FTO Dr Asif Jah came in case of multi-billion-rupee sales tax fraud through the issuance of fake/flying sales tax invoices. It involved a gang of fraudsters, including FBR officers, lawyers, chartered accountant and some criminal elements.

It is learnt that the president has endorsed the FTO's order that directed the FBR to form a team of IT and sales tax experts to eliminate the fraud and complete the chain audit till the end.

The case stemmed from a complaint, filed against the FBR, regarding the issuance of fake/flying sales tax invoices by misusing complainant's sales tax registration number (STRN) and other particulars.

The FTO recommended to the FBR to examine the issue by constituting a team of sales tax experts and IT experts and chalk out a viable strategy to be translated into a foolproof IT-based system with comprehensive checks and balances.

The FTO directed that the IT-based system must be capable of issuing red alerts to the tax managers and administrators with the objective to eliminate the menace of fake/flying invoices.

The FTO also ordered for completing legal actions for the recovery of Rs156,335 million involved in misuse of fake/flying invoices and initiating appropriate action against the misusers of STRN and those involved in tax fraud.