ISLAMABAD, Feb 06 ( Alliance News): The biggest scandal of illegal payments has come to light in the Federal Board of Revenue during the rule of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
FBR officials illegally refunded sales tax of Rs 16 billion to hundreds of large retailers.
These payments were made during the last 5 months, the government sources and the list of beneficiaries of these illegal payments indicate that these payments were made between September 2021 and January 2022.
These payments were against the Sales Tax Act and Sales Tax General Orders (STGOs) issued during the same period.
According to sources, the tax authorities failed to enforce at least four orders which did not provide 60% sales tax refund to the major retailers who are not connected to the tax system through point of sales (POS).
This is the biggest scandal in the FBR during the PTI regime. The matter has been brought to the notice of Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen and the Finance Minister has also constituted a committee in this regard.
FBR chairman Dr Muhammad Ashfaq told the Express Tribune that a committee has been set up to look into the matter to determine whether the FBR or Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) officials deliberately But they did it or it was just their negligence.
It should be noted that PRAL is a subsidiary of FBR which manages the database.
According to the Chairman FBR, the system automatically detects input adjustments to non-integrated Tier One retailers and when they come across it, they order an inquiry. He said that action would be taken against any officer found involved in it
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