KARACHI: Consequent upon the intervention of Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued instructions to its field offices for quick disposal of refund cases of income tax. The issue of unnecessary delay in processing these cases was taken up by the FTO with Member (IR) Operations, FBR. The instructions issued vide FBR’s letter dated 04.02.2022 for early processing of income tax refund claims ordain FBR field offices to:-
i. All CNIC/NTN based verifications available through system will be internally verified and verifications from other withholding agents will be carried out efficiently within the time limits provided under the law.
ii. No fresh audit / recovery proceedings will be initiated against the taxpayer during the period his complaint at FTO office is under process barring the cases where non-initiation of audit / recovery proceedings may have an element of time limitation or any other urgent requirement under the relevant laws.
iii. Refund claims involving FTO recommendations should be processed in light of already circulated SOPs so that these refund orders may be made available under FTO category in CITRO.
The above instructions will not only facilitate the taxpayers by doing away with the inordinate delays in refund claims in the name of lengthy verification procedures but will also be safe guarding the taxpayers against exploitation by way of unnecessary audit/recovery notices.