FTO Orders FBR to Punish Tax Officers Who Mentally Tortured Female Taxpayer

Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has detected a classic case of maladministration involving tax officers of the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Rawalpindi, who mentally tortured a sales tax registered female taxpayer. Taking immediate action on the complaint, the FTO has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to take immediate action against the delinquent tax officers of the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Rawalpindi involved in repeated maladministration to the sales tax registered taxpayers. According to an order issued by the FTO against the RTO Rawalpindi, the agony suffered and borne by the taxpayer since 2011 must be immense. This is a serious case infested with multiple shades of maladministration. Details of the case revealed that RTO Rawalpindi attached the bank account of the complainant and recovered the sales tax demand, amounting to Rs. 1,673,244 without due process of law. An in-depth study of the whole case casts serious aspersions on the working of FBR. Initially, a demand of Rs.2,552,008 (principal amount) was created by the audit officer for the tax period 2009 and 2010 on the grounds of (i) non-production of record (ii) difference in Income Tax and Sales Tax Returns, and (iii) discrepancy in E-Folder of FBR Web Portal and STR declaration. On rejection of the appeal by the CIR (Appeal) vide order dated 31 May 2012, the department recovered Rs. 1,673,244 on 06 June 2012 pertaining to the ground (iii) as aforementioned by attaching the bank account of the Complainant. The department again decided the case and reduced the recoverable amount to Rs. 1,674,321, the FTO order said. Now in compliance with CIR (Appeals-Ill) Rawalpindi, the Assistant Commissioner-IR A&E, Unit-I (City Zone) RTO Rawalpindi vide Sales Tax Order-in-Remand No.40/2023-24 has vacated the earlier adjudged liability of Rs. 1,624,321/-. During the hearing, the authorized representative informed that he had not received the said Order-in Remand. Accordingly, a copy was provided to him, FTO order added. FTO has directed the FBR to instruct Member-IR (Operations) FBR to conduct a fact-finding inquiry to identify delinquent officers responsible for maladministration in this case. The Chief Commissioner, RTO, Rawalpindi to allow a refund of the already-recovered amount of Rs. 1,673,244.