FBR urged to withdraw ‘unwarranted’ notices

FPCCI chief says information sought already available to tax authorities.

KARACHI:

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Zakaria Usman has urged Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Bajwa to withdraw notices issued by the officials of the Audit Unit of Regional Tax Office (RTO-II), Karachi.

The notices are sent to registered taxpayers requiring specified information or sales tax record by the given deadline, without mentioning any reason or identifying faults, he said in a statement.

“These notices have also been issued to those commercial and industrial importers who have already discharged their tax liability, full and final, by paying advance Value-Added Sales Tax.”

He added that information sought from registered persons in the notices was already available in the FBR data bank. “The information required is provided regularly through e-filing of monthly Sales Tax Returns. It can also be electronically retrieved through strengthened coordinated efforts among various wings of the FBR.”

Zakaria said the government policy discouraged direct contact between the tax collector and tax payer, as it encourages corruption. This is the reason why audit cases are mandatorily required to be selected only through random computer balloting to keep the process transparent, and avoid misuse of discretionary powers.  “Selecting cases manually at their whim and serving them with notices, on the pretext of ascertaining factual position, clearly reflects an ulterior interest of the issuing authority. It causes resentment and shatters people’s confidence in tax laws.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2014.

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