Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has recovered PKR 8.3 billion after resolving complaints of taxpayers. Out of this PKR 8.3 billion total, PKR 18.42 million was refunded in the “Suzuki case” only in a ceremony held in the Federal FTO office. Senior Adviser FTO, Dr Arslan Subctageen said that a total of 286 complainants were reimbursed under similar schemes. He said that FTO was performing the best in its 22-year history adding that Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Dr Asif Mahmood Jah has achieved the feat of resolving 6034 complaints in a single year alone.

He said in 2022, FTO resolved 6034 complaints out of a total of 6959 complaints received, adding that FTO was utilizing the Section 33 of the FTO Ordinance, 2000, to initiate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. He said FTO’s presence has been increased to five more cities of Sargodha, Sialkot, Sukkur, Abbottabad and Hub in 2022 for speedy resolution of tax-payers complaints.

He continued, “we have hired 10 businessmen from various sectors to help us in the resolution of various disputes and to help the taxpayers in their tax matters.” “We aim to resolve the complaints of taxpayers swiftly so that we can help them reinvest their money in profitable sectors so that they can contribute towards the growth and national development.”

Further, he highlighted various steps that FTO plans to take to further improve the performance of FTO. The steps include an open-door policy, revamping the Advisory Committee, creation of Overseas Pakistanis Grievance Redressal Cell, Translation of FTO Ordinance, 2000, in Urdu, and zero fee on online complaint registration.

He said that complainants can check the status of their applications by dialling 9386. He informed that FTO enjoys the stature of a Supreme Court Judge and can award six months punishment against the defiance of charges and only the President can hear appeals against the FTO decisions. “FTO has decided that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) should not deduct tax on the income of daily wagers and contract employees, as they fall below the threshold level.” He said that as many as ten thousand customers of Suzuki Motors benefited from this landmark decision of tax refund.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk