Federal Tax Ombudsman Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera has said that the FTO has full authority to take suo motu action regarding taxation issues. Speaking at a meeting of the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), he said that anyone could complain, individually or collectively to the FTO "We shall provide all possible relief as per law," he assured.

Sukhera said that at a recent meeting with the officials of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) he raised many problems faced by business community regarding taxation and due refunds. He said that FBR officials assured release of pending refunds soon. He said that cost of production and doing business had been raised so high while other problems are there as well. He said that in this deteriorated situation spirit of business community is remarkable.

KATI president Tariq Malik said that that industrialist and exports were facing financial crunch due to non-release of dues by tax authorities. He expressed hope that FTO would play its role to resolve refund issue. The head of KATI's standing committee on FBR, SRB and Taxation, Rashid Siddiqui said that industry and exporters bring foreign currency in country with collective efforts and hard work. But, he lamented, a huge amount of the foreign reserves are spent on payment of many unnecessary imports.

He was of the view that FBR could solve many of the industry's problems by taking right measures. On this occasion, Zubair Chhaya said that divide between filer and non-filer only benefited the non-filers and increased problems of taxpayers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017