ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday said an effective strategy should be formulated to resolve tax-related issues of the people and asked the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) to benefit from the experiences of other countries in this regard.
The president expressed these views during a meeting with Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Abdur Rauf Chaudhry who submitted him the Annual Report-2016, at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The president expressed satisfaction over the report and appreciated various initiatives taken by the FTO to improve the performance of the institution.
The FTO plays a positive role in increasing national revenue by building taxpayers confidence and by addressing systemic issues, said the president.
He commended the role and performance of the FTO in addressing the grievances of the taxpayers since its establishment in the year 2000.
The president said relief in tax refund should be provided to small business enterprises to enable them to contribute to country’s development.
He stressed strict implementation of tax laws to discourage tax evasion and appreciated timely resolution of problems with the average disposal been reduced to 49 days from 63 days in 2015.
He also expressed satisfaction on the restructuring of the consultative committee of the FTO and on complete operationalization of regional offices of FTO in Faisalabad, Multan, Sukkur and Abbottabad.
The president hoped that the FTO Secretariat would continue efforts to serve the people by further improving performance.
Earlier, the FTO briefed the president that the number of complaints received by the FTO during 2016 was 1768, an increase of 15% as compared to 2015. The number of complaints resolved in 2016 was 1807, 12% more than 2015.
He said 79% of complaints were decided in favour of taxpayers, and 84% decisions of the FTO accepted by taxpayers and the FBR without any review.