LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue of Pakistan has set a bad precedent by recommending promotion of seven of its senior officials from Grade 19 to 20 instead of punishing them for not filing their tax returns for tax year 2013, it was learnt.
Non-filing of tax returns is an offence under the Civil Servant Act of 1973 that seeks initiation of legal action, such as imposition of penalty etc, against those officials who fail to file their returns within a specified time frame.
Official sources say since the FBR’s top management knew well about the list of its own 1,090 law violating senior and junior officials, it recommended promotion of the officers allegedly in violation of the rules.
They say since the FBR is the supreme tax collecting institution of the country, non-filing of tax returns by its own officials has put a question mark on its ‘performance’.
“And more you can see the step taken by Chairman Tariq Bajwa-led FBR team, which awarded promotions to aforementioned officials despite knowing about the fact,” criticised an insider yesterday.
While terming the non-filing of returns a case of misconduct rather than deserving of promotion, the official said the precedent set by the management was unprecedented in the history of FBR.
While commenting on the situation, Naeem Akhtar Sheikh, an expert on chartered accountancy, corporate and tax-related issues, termed the issue a great dilemma of the hour. He was of the view that when the FBR’s own employees would be involved in such offence, how they would ensure transparency in tax collection.
Internews
