Referring to a news item appearing in a section of press, President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Younus Muhammad Bashir, has said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been filing false and baseless cases with a view to indicate higher recoveries but no recoveries were actually taking place as majority of the decisions were being given against the FBR by the income tax appellate tribunal in appeal cases.
“The economy is not benefiting at all from such tactics which were only being used to harass the business and industrial community,” he said in a statement issued on Friday.
Younus Bashir, while referring to figures presented by the audit office before the Public Accounts Committee, said it was a matter of concern that out of 751 appeals, only 80 were decided in favor of FBR while the remaining 671 cases (90 percent) were decided against it by the income tax appellate tribunal.
He said the FBR had been using such tactics from quite some time now as the KCCI had received dozens of complaints pertaining to false cases during the past couple of years. Although the issue has been taken up with the Board from time to time and the same has also been highlighted in the media on various occasions but to no avail. Thus, the business and industrial community continues to face harassment because of such false cases, he added.
“Nothing much is being recovered as the FBR loses majority of the cases and whatever amount they succeed in recovering after winning some cases, is probably utilized on clearing the fee for engaging lawyers and other overheads on pursuing the appeals,” he added.