The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has imposed the major penalty of dismissal from service on Ms. Shiraza Hameed, Inland Revenue official (IRS/BS-18) at the Large Taxpayer Office (LTO) Lahore, for issuing an inadmissible sales tax refund.
According to a notification issued by the FBR on Monday, Shiraza Hameed (IRS/BS-18, under suspension), Large Taxpayers Office, Lahore, was charged with “inefficiency,” “misconduct,” and “corruption” under the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules.
The charges against her stated that, while processing the sales tax refund claim of M/s Gas & Oil Pakistan Limited, she caused a huge loss of revenue by issuing an inadmissible refund against the input tax of Rs. 549,094,971 on items whose inadmissibility was evident on the face of the record.
She issued the Refund Payment Order (RPO) on a public holiday (Youm-e-Takbeer) in undue haste and without proper scrutiny of the claimed inadmissible input. This illegality was further highlighted in her subsequent Assessment Order dated 02.07.2024, wherein she stated that the registered person had failed to explain the inadmissible input and had not provided documents in support of its stance.
The notification further stated that she committed gross negligence in processing the refund claim of M/s Gas & Oil Pakistan Limited by not analyzing the exaggerated claim of input tax on freight services. If she had analyzed and compared it with the per liter Inland Freight Equalization Margin (IFEM) as notified periodically by OGRA, and compared the input-to-supply ratio with other reputed OMCs, she would have been able to assign valid grounds for rejection of the remaining amount of Rs. 929,331,033, in addition to the STARR objection, thus making the rejection order sustainable in future litigation. Instead, she issued and sanctioned a refund of the excess amount of Rs. 6,428,102.
The accused is directly responsible for all her actions, and no material prejudice was caused to her in the proceedings, as she herself was the sanctioning authority for the inadmissible refund claims. The evidence on record is sufficient to establish that the accused officer committed serious misconduct, including corruption, and the facts proved during the inquiry proceedings fully implicate her in the charges.
Therefore, the Authority, after due consideration of all details and in view of the gravity of the charges, has imposed the major penalty of “Dismissal from Service” under Rule 4(3)(e) of the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules 2020 upon Ms. Shiraza Hameed (IRS/BS-18).