KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has praised the newly appointed chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for limiting powers of Inland Revenue officers in tax recovery through bank account attachment.
Engr. Daroo Khan Achakzai, President FPCCI in a statement on Saturday hailed the directive of the newly appointed Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi, for not attaching the bank account of a taxpayer unless his Chief Executive Officer / Owner is informed at least 24 hours prior to attachment and approval of the Chairman FBR is obtained.
He said that the FPCCI had been clamoring for long for keeping a deterrent against the misuse of discretionary powers by the tax officials for recovery of arrears and attachment of bank account under Section 48 of Sales Tax Act, 1990 and Section 140 of Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
The FPCCI Chief elaborated that there were increased incidences of bank account attachment and other serious coercive measures taken by the tax officer under the garb of the Section 48 for recovery of arrears and such abuse of powers were creating trust deficit and lack of confidence of taxpayers in law which are pre-requisite for success of any scheme.
Achakzai hoped that the directive would address the complaints of business community about the unnecessary attachments of the bank accounts for recovery of the disputed accounts from the bank accounts of the taxpayers without fulfilment of legal process. “In many cases accounts have been attached without prior notice of the CEO / principle officer owner of the business community,” he added.
