PTA requests to refund additional tax, Commissioner Inland Revenue fined

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for not deciding within two months on the tax department’s request for a refund of advance tax collection.

Justice Babar Sattar of the IHC issued the decision in the case against the deduction of Rs1.37 billion in advance tax from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The IHC, while accepting the PTA’s application against the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), ordered the Tax Department to take a decision on the PTA’s request for the refund of additional tax within two months.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue and ordered him to pay the amount to the applicant within one month.

The court wrote in the decision that according to the petitioner, the tax department re-assessed the advance tax, and deducted the amount from the bank as tax without issuing a notice. According to the Income Tax Ordinance, it is mandatory to issue a notice to the taxpayer. The action taken without following the process is also against the fundamental rights of the petitioner.

The court said that according to the petitioner's lawyer, he filed an application to return the additional amount deducted. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue has to decide on the application within two months as per the law, but he did not decide on the PTA's application despite the passage of more than two months.

It is pertinent to note that the PTA had filed an application against the deduction of Rs1.37 billion by the Tax Department in the year 2018.