The President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, issues an order in favor of the declarants of the Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019 (assets declaration scheme). Who already deposited their taxes under the Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019 (assets declaration scheme). But they became unable to upload their declarations on the deadline of 3rd July 2019 because of the failure of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) IRIS system.
Facts of the Case
Previously, Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has issued a judgment to give relief to 12,000 taxpayers who had deposited Rs2.6 billion tax under the Tax Amnesty Scheme (Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019) but unable to upload their declarations on the last date due to failure of the FBR’s online system.
Reliefs to depositors of tax under amnesty scheme of 2019
For this purpose, Dr. Alvi has sustained the order of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) and disposed of and discarded the appeals and representations specified by the FBR against the order issued by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO). He also cited to Section 17 of the Assets Declaration Ordinance under which the federal government can decide the matter and resolve the difficulties. President order further added, that Despite the fact that the taxpayers had deposited billions of rupees two years ago under amnesty scheme, the FBR has not resolved the matter of the taxpayers. He also informed that issue caused by just system failure of FBR and it is not fair to hold the FBR’s employees responsible for the failure of the system. Thus, the FTO found the solution of the matter by involving section 17 of the Assets Declaration Ordinance.
Responsibility of FBR
The FTO’s order stated that it was the responsibility of the FBR to maintain the FBR system running properly until the last minute. The general public faced issues because of the Iris failure for declarations of amnesty statements. System failed to cater the expected load on its system.
Previously, the FTO had directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to facilitate thousands of taxpayers in the filing of declarations under the amnesty scheme (Assets Declaration Ordinance, 2019). In this regard, it had issued a judgment (0011/OM/2020) to give relief to the aggrieved taxpayers who had deposited the amounts under the amnesty scheme.
President of Pakistan Arif Alvi | FTO Order | Federal Tax Ombudsmen | FBR | Federal Boar of Revenue | Amnesty Scheme | Assets Declarations Scheme | Amnesty Scheme of 2019 | Tax Deposited | IRIS system Failure of FBR | IRIS | Source | Income Tax Returns |
