DNA
ISLAMABAD, Aug 07: President Arif Alvi has called for an
explanation from FBR over unnecessarily contesting the decision of the
Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) before him without sound legal justification
in a financially insignificant case and wasting the time and efforts of
the highest office of the country.
While expressing his dismay, he said that chasing the small and
financially insignificant taxpayers unnecessarily and without cogent and
lawful reasons impinged negatively on the image of FBR and also created
public resentment against it, says a press release issued here on
Sunday.
The President gave these remarks while upholding FTO’s decision in a
case where a shop owner from Abbottabad had been registered by FBR as
“Tier 1 Retailer” even though he did not fulfill the criteria required
for this purpose.
The citizen approached FTO over this injustice which passed the orders
in his favour. FBR, however, didn’t comply with the decision and
preferred a representation with the President.
The President rejected FBR’s representation and directed it to
deregister the shop and report compliance within 45 days on the ground
that FBR had unjustifiably registered a cloth shop as “Tier-1 Retailer”
even though the shop was found lacking lawful criteria and was qualified
for deregistration under relevant existing provisions of Sales Tax laws.
The President observed that since the complainant’s shop was consisting
of 594 sq. ft only, therefore, the compulsory registration of
complainant by FBR under the Sales Tax Rules, 2006 was contrary to law,
rules, arbitrary/unjust and was based on irrelevant grounds and
tantamount to maladministration.
He stated that the order of FTO was based on sound footings and,
therefore, there was no valid justification to interfere with its
original order, thus, the representation was being rejected. He further
directed FBR to send a report within 45 days of implementation of his
order and explain the reasons as to why this miscarriage had happened,
justice was delayed and why efforts and time of highest forum was
wasted.
