The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has established the Overseas Pakistanis Grievances Redressal Cell (OPGRC) in the FTO Secretariat to deal with the complaints of overseas Pakistanis against the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
In this connection, the FTO office issued an office order on Friday for the establishment of the Cell with immediate effect. The OPGRC will be headed by Almas Ali Jovindah, Advisor Legal, FTO Secretariat.
The OPGRC’s work will be regulated by the provisions of Section 2 of the Establishment of the Office of Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance 2000 defining maladministration and Section 9 stipulating the jurisdiction of the FTO Office.
The complaints relating to income tax, customs, sales tax, and federal excise lodged by any overseas Pakistani will be taken up with FBR or relevant tax authority for redressal within 15 days of its receipt, and complainants will be kept informed about the progress of their cases.
In case the relevant tax authority fails to redress the grievance, lodged with it, within 30 days, it will be automatically transferred to the Complaint Management Information System (CMIS) of the FTO Secretariat for further investigation and allocation to the relevant advisor/investigation officer in terms of Federal Tax Ombudsman Investigation and Disposal of Complaints Regulations, 2001.
The FTO order added that the systemic issues will be taken-up with FBR on regular basis and the monthly progress report will be submitted to the FTO.
