High-ranking officials from the Member Policy Inland Revenue Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have made a stunning admission before the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) that the tax return devised for Tax Year 2023 is erroneously calculating incorrect tax liabilities for pensioners, senior citizens, and members of Shuhada families.
The revelation came to light during a hearing at the FTO’s office, where Member Policy officials were summoned to address complaints and concerns raised by tax lawyer Waheed Shahzad Butt for pensioners and senior citizens regarding discrepancies in their tax calculations.
Waheed Shahzad Butt informed that during the course of the hearing before Adviser FTO Naseer Butt, the officials acknowledged that a flaw in the tax return calculation mechanism has led to inaccurate tax liability assessments for this particular demographic.
Earlier a complaint was moved by a senior retired Army officer through tax lawyer Shahzad Butt, and the office of the FTO had issued notice to the secretary Revenue Division and FBR Members to probe the allegations of maladministration as to why the FBR’s system is computing wrong income tax liability with an incorrect rebate available to pensioners, senior citizens and members of Shuhada families, for the tax year 2023.
Tax lawyer Waheed Butt stated that FBR Policy Wing is facing severe criticism for its failure to effectively address the issue of tax reduction on tax charged on the yield on Behbood Certificates/ Pensioner’s Benefit Account/ Shuhada Family Welfare Account under Code “930101” in the income tax return devised by the FBR for Tax Year 2023.
The flawed tax calculation has raised concerns among pensioners and senior citizens, many of whom rely on fixed retirement incomes and have limited financial resources. The incorrect tax liability calculations have resulted in undue financial burden and distress for these individuals, who were shocked to find their tax obligations higher than they should rightfully be.
Member Policy should tender an apology before the Pensioners, Senior Citizens, and Shuhada Family for the professional negligence and must be assured that illegal extra tax recovered through faulty tax returns should be returned back promptly.
Despite the FBR’s responsibility to ensure fair and equitable taxation for all citizens, it has come to light that pensioners, senior citizens, and members of Shuhada families are being deprived of their rightful tax reduction entitlements: Waheed added.
