Income Tax Officials Quarrel Over Sales Tax Refund Case

Two income tax officials have reportedly quarreled with each other over the matter of a tax refund worth millions of rupees of a company. Sources said that the IRS officials posted at the Large Taxpayer office and Regional Tax Office Lahore quarreled with each other over the matter of tax refund of a company. Sources further said that the exchange of words reached to extent that one officer pulled a gun on another officer in the office, however, others intervened to resolve the matter between the two officers. The company in question had asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to clear its Rs. 360 million sales tax refund of last year. The FBR had introduced the FASTER system to clear the tax refunds of companies within 72 hours, however, the department is also clearing refunds manually. Sources said that this case has been processed manually instead of the FASTER system. Sources claim that the bone of contention between the officers was the fact that one officer did not get the promised share of the money as per the alleged agreement. However, a FBR spokesperson quoting the Member Operations Inland Revenue said that the issue was between a lawyer and the company and FBR officers were merely arranging a settlement between the two parties.