Sources told Business Recorder on Saturday that Lahore LTU Director General in the last meeting on direct taxes had decided to invoke strict provisions of the Ordinance 2001 against units which were selected for audit since 2003, but they refused to submit the requisite information to the tax officials.
According to details, the LTU, Lahore, had selected cases for routine audit under section 177 of the Ordinance 2001. The Commissioner is empowered to select a person for audit in line with the criteria laid down by the board. Besides other factors, the history of compliance, non-compliance, amount of tax payable and class of business conducted have been considered for selection of cases for audit.
Recently, the LTU Director General had informed the concerned commissioners and taxation officers that the pendency up to October 31, 2007 was still as high as 48 cases. Responding to the query, the officers explained the causes of delay, the major being re-selection of cases for audit for 2003 after Supreme Court decisions in 2007. The income tax officials of LTU, Lahore, further informed that even after re-selection, certain taxpayers and their authorised representatives were not willing to join the proceedings, and there was hesitation of officers to complete exparte assessments, which would not go well with the image of the LTU as a reformed unit.
The Lahore LTU DG considered the viewpoint of the income tax officials and directed them to persuade the taxpayers to join audit proceedings. The selected taxpayers should be convinced that the LTU would only check the veracity of the declared results. It was, however, stressed upon the officers that in case of completely defiant taxpayers they may proceed strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
The performance of LTU, Lahore, regarding disposal of appeals remained satisfactory during July-October 2007-08. The unit disposed of 52 appeal cases during the first four months of current fiscal year, leaving a balance of 13 cases only. It is a regular process where cases from appellate forums are received and given appeal effect accordingly.
From July 1, 2007, the LTU, Lahore, received 46 applications for rectification, and officers very quickly disposed of 35 cases. The DG directed the concerned officials that all such applications should be decided within the next two months of 2007-08.