KARACHI: Newly-appointed chairman of the Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR) Muhammad Irshad directed the tax officials to step up efforts for
early disposal of court and audit cases in order to collect Rs1.8 trillion in
the remaining part of the current fiscal year, sources said on Thursday.
The sources said the FBR chairman, at a recent meeting, hinted
at the government unwillingness to revise down the tax revenue collection
target of Rs3.621 trillion set for the current fiscal year of 2016/17.
FBR provisionally collected around Rs1.8 trillion during the
July-January period of 2016/17. Sources said after assuming the charge of FBR
chairman on regular basis, Irshad held a meeting with the chief commissioners
and commissioners at the Large Taxpayers Unit, Karachi through a video
conferencing on February 15 and outlined strategies to meet the revenue
collection target.
The tax officials were informed that there was no intention of
the government to relax the target. The chairman instructed the tax offices to
speed up auditing and enforcement for recovery of outstanding amount.
FBR chief also called for early resolution of pending court
cases involving around Rs300 billion. The officials were asked to request the
courts for early disposal of the cases. An official said at least 2,000 cases
are awaiting decision in the apex and high courts around the country.
The courts had granted stay in a number of cases. In some cases,
the stay is four-year long. The chairman also instructed the FBR law division
to request the courts for early hearings in such cases.
The chairman announced revising the payment schedule for lawyers
on the FBR panel to motivate them. Further, it was decided that tax officers
would also appear in the court to assist lawyers.
Sources said the chairman also directed the tax offices to
utilise workforce along with audit team to avert delay in auditing of the cases
selected through computerised balloting. The tax authorities came up with
93,000 audit cases through a fresh exercise of random computer balloting.
In July 2015, a new section 214D was inserted into the Income
Tax Ordinance 2001 that entails an automatic selection of taxpayers, who failed
to file returns within time and disclose wealth, for auditing.
They said the completion of audit process is critical for
revenue generation. In order to boost the morale of tax officers the chairman,
who is also secretary revenue division, approved promotion of 52 officers of
Inland Revenue Service from Grade – 17 to 18 on February 15, they added.
FBR Chairman Irshad also directed the regional tax offices
(RTOs), which were assigned territorial jurisdictions, to speed up their
efforts for identifying new taxpayers to broaden the tax base.
RTOs were asked to conduct surveys of markets and shopping centres
to spot on the individuals who earn taxable income but are not in the tax net.
Irshad also held meeting with the customs officials through video conferencing
to encourage them help the board in achieving revenue target for the current
fiscal year.
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