FTO vows to end businessmen exploitation

LAHORE - Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle has pledged to eliminate tax maladministration and create a conducive atmosphere for the business community.
He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry here on Monday. LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Senior Vice President Ijaz A. Mumtaz, former Presidents Iftikhar Ali Malik, Mian Muzaffar Ali and former Vice President Aftab Ahmad Vohra also spoke on the occasion.
Dr. Shoaib Suddle said the office of the FTO would continue to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice done to a taxpayer by officials of customs, income tax, federal excise and sales tax. He said that when tax functionaries do not behave as the law requires they need to be checked.
He said that he would ensure that taxpayers were treated with respect, dignity and due consideration by those whose duty is to collect tax for the state. He said that FTO is empowered to do much more than merely respond reactively to complaints of tax maladministration.
Ombudsman can, pro-actively, recommend changes to address systemic issues afflicting the organization and management of the taxation machinery.
Such identification of systemic issues is vital not merely to bring about improvements to the tax system as a whole, but to reach many more people than the disposal of individual complaints, he said. He said that since June 2008, the office of the FTO had disposed of over 800 complaints including over 200 up to four-year old cases pertaining to 2005-08. The bulk of the complaints (about 66pc) pertain to Income Tax, about 20pc to Sales Tax and the remaining relate to Customs.
Presently, no complaint that is more than six month old is pending with the FTO. He said that the target is to clear all complaints filed in 2009 by 31st March 2010. We have also set a target of clearing over 60pc complaints filed in 2010 within 60 days.
He said although the figures show that quite a significant number of taxpayers are making use of the office of the Federal Tax Ombudsman to redress their grievances, it does appear that many taxpayers are reluctant to do so as they feel intimidated by a perceived threat of retaliation by departmental authorities. In this context, the LCCI can play a critical role in reassuring potential complaints not to get intimidated, as any attempted intimidation would itself constitute maladministration of the gravest kind.
The Federal Tax Ombudsman sought the LCCI help for constitution of an Advisory Committee for institutional partnership with stakeholders including Chambers of Commerce in the country.
LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry would work hand in hand with Federal Tax Ombudsmans office to eliminate all anti-business policies.
He said that the issue of refund of sales tax was troubling the business community, therefore, measures should be taken to solve it on priority.
He said that the LCCI in consultation with its members would prepare a detailed presentation and research paper for creating a conducive business atmosphere in the country.
The LCCI President said that the Lahore Chamber would continue to support government efforts aimed at removing tax-related irritants for a taxpayer-friendly administration in the country.
He appreciated the Federal Tax Ombudsman for providing inexpensive and speedy justice to taxpayers.