Islamabad, Oct 14: Taxpayers Can Now Apply for Tax Jurisdiction Changes Online via FBR Portal. According to the Federal Tax Ombudsman’s (FTO) directives, taxpayers can now use the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) online module to apply for and process a change of tax jurisdiction from one city to another.
The absence of an automated module on matters pertaining to changes of jurisdiction that cause hardships for taxpayers prompted the FTO office to launch an own motion investigation. This agency has received numerous complaints while looking into different issues, including those in which taxpayers experienced difficulties when attempting to request for a change in jurisdiction.
The FTO order stated that because there is no online module for applying a change in jurisdiction in the IRIS system, taxpayers must submit manual applications, which take time, when requesting a change in jurisdiction from one field office to another.
The FTO has already resolved the matter in over a hundred complaints, and the Pakistani president has also upheld the ruling. Although FBR implemented the FTO’s recommendations in similar cases, no long-term solution to effectively handle change of jurisdiction applications was created and made public.
Maladministration includes the difficulties that taxpayers have had as a result of excessive delays caused by the lack of an online application module for a change of jurisdiction. The matter is currently being worked on with the relevant Board authorities to make the necessary systemic changes.
According to the FTO ruling, the FBR should instruct the Member (Information & Technology) to put the suggested online module for applying and processing taxpayers’ applications for change of jurisdiction into effect within 45 days.
