A former tax officer of Inland Revenue, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has approached Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) against nonpayment of refund amount.
Azizullah Khan, former Inland Revenue Officer of the FBR, filed a complaint before the FTO against nonpayment of sanctioned refund amounting to Rs19,245 for tax year 2017.
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According to the FTO office, the tax office issued refund order determining refund of Rs19,245 on June 09, 2022. However, no refund was credited into bank account of the complainant despite repeated visits.
Regional Tax Office (RTO) – II, Karachi having jurisdiction over the taxpayer assessment, submitted its response stating that the refund order had already been passed on June 09, 2022 and the Secretary (Revenue Budget), FBR had also been requested through a letter November 28, 2022 to transfer the refund in the declared bank account of the complainant.
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On the other hand, Chief Manager-IR (Operations) responded through letter dated December 07, 2022, that the relevant assessing officer passed the order with rejected amount and he did not insert any amount against field ‘refund issued’.
The FTO observed that the department issued refund order under Section 170(4) of the Ordinance determining refund of Rs.19,245 on June 09, 2022 for tax year 2017 almost after five years to a retired inspector of his own department.
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But no refund was credited into bank account due to mistake in the order dated June 09, 2022 in IRIS by the Assessing Officer who failed to insert any amount against sanctioned refund amount at the bottom of the refund order causing unnecessary delay and harassment.
The FTO further observed that the department is required to issue refund within sixty days of filing of refund application which it has failed to do so. Therefore, non-payment of refund within statutory period of sixty attracts maladministration under section 2(3)(ii) & (v) of FTO Ordinance.
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The FTO advised the FBR to direct commissioner withholding Zone-V RTO-II Karachi to ensure requisite correction in refund order. Further, direct Secretary (Revenue Budget), to transfer the refund amount to IBAN of the complainant.
