ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is making all-out efforts to restore taxpayer’s trust by taking several steps including resolution of tax disputes through the constitution of Alternative Dispute Resolution Committees (ADRCs).
Responding to the applicants’ grievances on a fast track basis, IR-Operations Wing, FBR, during the period July 2020 to Feb 2021, has constituted 18 committees, under the sales tax, federal excise and income tax heads. Out of the said ADRCs, 14 committees have so far successfully decided the disputes referred to the board.
FBR has stated that the said mechanism, as part of the out of court settlement and revenue mobilization, has been mobilized to enable taxpayers to get their disputes settled in lesser time and without incurring litigation cost.
While explaining, FBR has stated that by virtue of major facilitative change introduced through Finance Act-2020, an applicant, in order to avail ADRC, is not required to withdraw his case pending before any appellate forum.
To make the process more transparent and trust-worthy, ADRC is composed of three members including Chief Commissioner-IR from the department’s side and notable chartered accountants/ lawyers ADN businessmen from the private sector.
The committee is also empowered to stay in the process of recovery in case of hardships. Taxpayer’s application has to be finalized by the committee within a period of 120 days which in itself is a big relief considering the usual time taken in various appellate fora before a case attains finality.
