Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has assigned a herculean task to its field formation to dispose of at least 100, 000 pending audit cases by December 31, 2017. According to sources, the decision was made during recent Chief Commissioners Conference that was held in Islamabad where all field formation was directed to finish at least 100, 000 pending audit cases by December 31, 2017.

Sources said that the directives were given in the light of court orders, which restricted FBR to dispose of all income tax pending audit cases by the said date. However, in view of around 0.2 million pending cases, the board directed all the chief commissioners to dispose of at least 50 percent of pending audit cases in their respective jurisdictions by the end of current calendar year.

Replying to a question, sources further said that these cases were selected for audit under sections 177, 214C, 216D and clause 72 and 94 for tax years 2014, 15 and 16. Sources expressed pessimistic views and termed it as herculean task, due to huge pending audit cases.

They said that pending audit cases had reached around 0.2 million for the tax years 2014, 15 and 16 and they had just 75 days excluding all holidays to dispose of at least 50 percent pending audit cases, which they believed an uphill task to achieve within the deadline.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017