President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday, while lauding the Federal Tax Ombudsman’s (FTO) role for providing speedy relief to traders and businessmen, called for its enhanced outreach to the people.
The president also underscored the need for creating awareness about the FTO’s role in overcoming the maladministration of customs and tax authorities.
The president made these remarks while talking to the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), Dr Asif Mahmood Jah, who called on him, here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Dr Asif Mahmood Jah presented the Annual Report-2021 highlighting the performance and achievements of the FTO.
He informed that during the year 2021, 2816 fresh complaints were registered with the FTO, whereas 333 carry forward cases from the previous years were also processed.
Out of those, 2867 cases were disposed of during 2021, he added.
He further stated that 88.14 % of the decisions had been implemented by the quarters concerned. It was told that the Ombudsman had decided refund claims amounting to Rs 8,499.11 million and the amount was paid to the aggrieved taxpayers by the Federal Board of Revenue, he added.
Dr Asif Jah said that in order to facilitate the taxpayers and expeditiously resolve the complaints, the FTO had started informal resolution of complaints in priority cases under Section 33 of the FTO Ordinance, 2000.
The FTO further highlighted that the Ombudsman had provided a Sales Tax refund worth Rs 600 million to over 9,000 buyers of vehicles by declaring the collection of Sales Tax in excess of 12.5% from the complainants as contrary to law.
He also informed the president that the FTO had established facilitation desks at the international airports of Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar, and land border stations of Chaman and Torkham to facilitate traders and businessmen.
He told the president that the FTO, with the assistance of trade bodies and associations, was conducting seminars and sessions throughout the country to create awareness about its role in providing prompt and cost-effective justice against the maladministration of tax authorities.
The president expressed satisfaction over the FTO’s performance in providing swift justice to the complainants in far-flung areas of the country.—APP
