FTO Recover Rs 8.3 Billion By Resolving Tax Payers' Cases

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Dec, 2022 ) :The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) recovered Rs 8.3 billion by resolving complaints in tax payers' cases for providing the relief to the complainers.

In this regard, Rs 18.42 million were refunded in the refund 'Suzuki case' only, out of which 151 checks were issued and 135 online payments were made, Senior Adviser FTO, Dr. Arslan Subctageen along with other advisers here in Federal office of FTO on Friday.

Senior Adviser said that similarly, 286 complainants were refunded in this case.

He said that in the 22-year history of FTO, such excellent performance of the institution has not been recorded.

He said that "we have provided maximum relief to complainants in tax cases." Dr. Arslan Subctageen�said that during a short span of one year, Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah (HI-SI) has achieved a record and an incredible disposal of 6034 complaints in 2022.

In the year 2022, FTO office received 6959 complaints out of which 6034 have been disposed of, as compared to year 2021, wherein 3371 complaints were received, out of which 2868 have been disposed of, he said.

He said that being a former Senior Tax Officer, the FTO has a vast experience of tax matters and has resorted to maximum utilization of Section 33 of the FTO Ordinance, 2000, regarding informal resolution of disputes.

He said the FTO Office had its presence in seven cities when he took over last year on September 29th, 2021.

Senior Adviser said the FTO's presence has been expanded in year 2022 to other five cities, including Sargodha, Sialkot, Sukkur, Abbottabad and Hub to provide speedy justice to the aggrieved taxpayers at their doorstep.

Besides, as a new initiative, he has appointed 34 leading businessmen as honourary advisors after selecting them from various chambers of commerce and industry to facilitate aggrieved taxpayers in filing the complaints to the office of FTO, he informed.

Dr. Arslan Subctageen said that FTO's objective is to resolve tax matters of the aggrieved taxpayers on priority basis in a transparent, swift and cost free manner within the shortest possible time span, to achieve these objectives, the FTO has introduced: He said that FTO prioritized to initiate an open door policy, quick disposal ,merit based relief, awareness campaign, Advisory Committee revamped, creation of Overseas Pakistanis Grievance Redressal Cell, special research studies conducted, Translation of FTO Ordinance, 2000, in urdu,monthly newsletter and no fee is charged against filing of complaint on mobile app of the FTO office.

He said the status of the pending complaint could be checked by the complainant by dialing 9386. Inexpensive justice is the sole and cardinal objective of the office of the FTO.

Dr. Arslan Subctageen �FTO enjoys the stature of Supreme Court Judge and he can award six months punishment against defiance charges or on charges of contempt of court law.

Only the President of Pakistan is empowered to hear appeal against FTO's decision, he added.

He said that the FTO has decided in the recent past that the Federal board of Revenue (FBR) should not deduct tax on the income of daily wagers and contract employees, falling below the minimum threshold of taxable income.

Similarly, FTO had ordered the return of sales tax difference in booking and delivery of Suzuki cars to their purchasers.

Senior Adviser FTO, said that as many as ten thousand customers of Suzuki Motors benefited from this landmark decision.