FTO Launches Countrywide Survey For Business-friendly Tax Reforms: Dr Fayyaz Ranjha

The office of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has launched a countrywide survey to interact with stakeholders to spell out business-friendly tax reforms, said Dr. Fayyaz Ahmad Ranjha, Member Advisory Committee of the FTO

FAISALABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Oct, 2023) The office of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has launched a countrywide survey to interact with stakeholders to spell out business-friendly tax reforms, said Dr. Fayyaz Ahmad Ranjha, Member Advisory Committee of the FTO.

Dr. Ranjha along with his team visited Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) and had discussion with Senior Vice President Dr. Sajjad Arshad about tax-related issues.

Dr Ranjha said, "We as a nation are harping on the tragedy of the tax system but failed to check the malpractices from this department."

He quoted the clause 9 of FTO Act 2000 and said that under this clause FTO had been empowered to conduct surveys and suggest recommendations to streamline the system. These recommendations would be presented to the President of Pakistan and with his approval, these would be enforced instantly.

He requested Dr. Sajjad Arshad to provide him the notices issued by the tax department during last year. "Notices would be segregated to identify the cases where the notices were issued to twist the arm of the taxpayers; and where money was involved to withdraw the notices or reduce the assessed amount of tax with ill intention”, he added.

He said that the FTO office also wanted to purge the tax system of corruption and make it a business-friendly organization. He said that FCCI should take a lead and raise its voice instead of remaining mum so that the system could be improved up to the expectations of the business community.

He said that the boxes in tax return form of the salaried persons had been reduced from 54 to 4 only. He requested Dr. Sajjad Arshad to submit recommendations in written form so that implementation on the same could be ensured. The people could also submit their grievances or complaints through SMS to the FTO. It was a constitutional organization that had proceeded against 13 high officials of the FBR for abusing their authority, he added.

He clarified that the ultimate objective of the FTO was to streamline the system in order to facilitate the taxpayers but it needed practical support from the business community.

He disclosed that the President of Pakistan on the recommendation of the FTO had ordered that no case could be instituted against an applicant that had filed a complaint against FBR.

Earlier, Senior Vice President FCCI Dr. Sajjad Arshad appreciated FTO for taking steps to facilitate the taxpayers and said that it was probably the fourth meeting of FCCI with FTO officials on this issue but 'we failed to get the tangible results'.

He stressed the need for radical changes in the taxation system to make it business friendly instead of giving unlimited powers to the taxmen to extort taxes through coercive measures.

He said that the poultry sector faced colossal losses during last year but they were forced to show an increase in their profits in their returns. He requested that the FTO should establish its desk in FCCI to entertain the tenable complaints of its members.

He also opposed non-filers and said that the division of filers and non-filers had been intentionally created to open the backdoor channels.

He said that tax officials generally got data of taxpayers from banks who were already in the tax net in general.

He said that action should be taken against the non-filers as the NTN holders were already paying taxes to the national kitty.

He said that FBR should focus on non-taxpayers as it would not only expand the tax net but also generate additional revenue for the government.

Vice President Hajji Muhammad Aslam Bhalli said that property dealers and brokers were not part of the tax system. He said that a large chunk of traders did not want to get the registration of sales tax as the volume of their transaction was hefty as compared to their profit but they were forced to show their transactions as profit.

He said that the government should clamp 0.25% turn over tax on sugar, cement, iron and other such sectors and helped them to become part of the tax system.

Former President Rana Sikandar Azam, Former Senior Vice President Chaudhry Talat Mahmood and Director FTO Nazim Raza were also present during this meeting.