Tax tribunal to be fully automated to streamline process
After Karachi, system in Lahore and Islamabad will be connected online.
Most of the appeals call for refund of taxes which the FBR could not pay back due to the manual system. DESIGN: FAIZAN DAWOOD
LAHORE:
The Tax Tribunal Inland Revenue System will be upgraded and fully automated and work on this has already started in Karachi on an experimental basis, which will be expanded to other parts of the country soon.
Tribunal people hope that after Karachi, the system in Lahore and Islamabad will be connected online this year, which is the need of the hour as the current system leads to many complications that often create hurdles.
“With this, applicants will be able to see online all details and notices in relation to their cases and as a result complaints of not receiving notices and other such things from the applicants will subside,” said Tribunal Chairman Javed Masood Bhatti while taking to The Express Tribune.
“Every employee of the tribunal has been asked to create an e-mail account as every conversation or issuance of orders will be online in the future,” he said.
The tax tribunal is a supreme tribunal and listens to appeals in cases pertaining to tax disputes after the appellate commissioner of the Federal Board of Revenue fails to decide. Appeals concerning income tax, sales tax, wealth tax and withholding tax can be filed.
The tribunal’s head office is in Islamabad, where the chairman sits. Its seven members work in Karachi to entertain appeals from the entire Sindh and Balochistan. Nine members sit in Lahore to hear tax appeals from Punjab whereas only one member works in Peshawar to rule on appeals filed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
At present, around 11,000 tax cases are pending with the tribunal. Commenting on the high backlog of cases, Bhatti said the tribunal had been short of seven members for the last eight months, which led to the mounting pile of pending cases. Members can only be approved by the prime minister, but the former premier failed to do so, he said.
Previously, only senior officers of Grade-21 and 22 were eligible to be appointed as tribunal members, but following an amendment to the law last year, tax commissioners with two years of experience can be hired as well.
“We ask the present government to restore the previous criteria as the tribunal member is a very important post,” Bhatti said.
He dismissed the perception that the tax network has got bogged down because of a large number of pending cases with the tribunal, resulting in huge losses to the national exchequer. Of the 11,000 cases which were yet to be decided, 80% were cross-appeals and only 20% were genuine appeals, Bhatti said.
Total taxpayers in the country number around 2.5 million and keeping that in view the tribunal has only 11,000 pending cases. And “from this number too, we consider only 2,000 appeals as genuine,” he said.
Most of the appeals call for refund of taxes which the FBR could not pay back due to the manual system. This figure will come down if the FBR system goes online.
Talking about the low tax-to-GDP ratio of the country, Bhatti stressed that increase in the ratio was necessary to promote tax culture. In the modern world, taxpayers are treated with respect and are provided facilities, special awards, etc. Such practices, he suggested, should be introduced in Pakistan as well for promoting the tax culture.
Discussing the agriculture tax, Bhatti described it as the most difficult task for the tax officers. “How can you expect from an illiterate farmer to understand the tax process when majority of the educated business community fail to understand the process fully,” he asked.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2013.
The Tax Tribunal Inland Revenue System will be upgraded and fully automated and work on this has already started in Karachi on an experimental basis, which will be expanded to other parts of the country soon.
Tribunal people hope that after Karachi, the system in Lahore and Islamabad will be connected online this year, which is the need of the hour as the current system leads to many complications that often create hurdles.
“With this, applicants will be able to see online all details and notices in relation to their cases and as a result complaints of not receiving notices and other such things from the applicants will subside,” said Tribunal Chairman Javed Masood Bhatti while taking to The Express Tribune.
“Every employee of the tribunal has been asked to create an e-mail account as every conversation or issuance of orders will be online in the future,” he said.
The tax tribunal is a supreme tribunal and listens to appeals in cases pertaining to tax disputes after the appellate commissioner of the Federal Board of Revenue fails to decide. Appeals concerning income tax, sales tax, wealth tax and withholding tax can be filed.
The tribunal’s head office is in Islamabad, where the chairman sits. Its seven members work in Karachi to entertain appeals from the entire Sindh and Balochistan. Nine members sit in Lahore to hear tax appeals from Punjab whereas only one member works in Peshawar to rule on appeals filed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
At present, around 11,000 tax cases are pending with the tribunal. Commenting on the high backlog of cases, Bhatti said the tribunal had been short of seven members for the last eight months, which led to the mounting pile of pending cases. Members can only be approved by the prime minister, but the former premier failed to do so, he said.
Previously, only senior officers of Grade-21 and 22 were eligible to be appointed as tribunal members, but following an amendment to the law last year, tax commissioners with two years of experience can be hired as well.
“We ask the present government to restore the previous criteria as the tribunal member is a very important post,” Bhatti said.
He dismissed the perception that the tax network has got bogged down because of a large number of pending cases with the tribunal, resulting in huge losses to the national exchequer. Of the 11,000 cases which were yet to be decided, 80% were cross-appeals and only 20% were genuine appeals, Bhatti said.
Total taxpayers in the country number around 2.5 million and keeping that in view the tribunal has only 11,000 pending cases. And “from this number too, we consider only 2,000 appeals as genuine,” he said.
Most of the appeals call for refund of taxes which the FBR could not pay back due to the manual system. This figure will come down if the FBR system goes online.
Talking about the low tax-to-GDP ratio of the country, Bhatti stressed that increase in the ratio was necessary to promote tax culture. In the modern world, taxpayers are treated with respect and are provided facilities, special awards, etc. Such practices, he suggested, should be introduced in Pakistan as well for promoting the tax culture.
Discussing the agriculture tax, Bhatti described it as the most difficult task for the tax officers. “How can you expect from an illiterate farmer to understand the tax process when majority of the educated business community fail to understand the process fully,” he asked.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2013.