The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has issued a landmark decision ordering the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to exempt 12,000 taxpayers taxed under the $ 2.6 billion tax amnesty scheme (Declaration of Ordinance Regulation 2019) Dollars, but was unable to upload your statement of assets due to a failure in the online FBR system on the last day.
The FTO recommendation states that, despite its almost one-year anniversary, the FBR has not taken any action to deal with the complaints of injured taxpayers. FBR is aware of the failure of its online system, which includes 12,000 taxpayers.
In its response to the FTO, the FBR argued that submitting the declaration of ownership and not paying taxes was a precondition for using the system. The online FBR system was fully functional and the complainants never had access to the FBR website.
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However, FBR also accepted that on their last day there was more pressure on their online system to file a statement of assets.
At the hearing, the President of the Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) alleged that FBR’s online system had not responded and that this fact was confirmed in a statement by FBR chairman Shabber Zaidi at the time in electronic media.
PTBA rejected FBR’s claim that its system was fully functional. PTBA also provided screenshots showing that the online system was not available to the FTO. Earlier, PTBA had also forwarded the screenshots to FBR.
The FTO found that the inaccessibility of online systems leads to incompetence and inefficiency of FBR. The purpose of the tax amnesty program was to create a culture of business documentation and tax compliance, but the lack of response to the FBR e-portal has prevented applicants from using the system, the FTO added.
The FTO report states that the FBR has acknowledged its mistake in dealing with the situation and has enabled taxpayers to expand their depositary receipts. An extension is also inconsistent with the provisions of the Regulation and the FBR’s claim that uploading the statement is a precondition for using the system.
The FTO recommended that FBR take precautionary measures and facilitate the submission of proprietary notices by referring to the provisions of § 17 EStV, updating FBR’s IT system and reporting compliance within 45 days.
