May 12, 2002	Sunday	Safar 28, 1423

ISLAMABAD, May 11: The government is likely to implement a new system for dispute resolution between the taxpayers and the tax administration.

Senior officials in the Central Board of Revenue told Dawn on Friday that the new system would be effective from June 30, 2002.

The proposed system was aimed at to reduce the compliance cost of taxpayers and facilitate them.

Elaborating further, the officials said that with the introduction of Universal Self-Assessment System form July 1, 2002, it was expected to reduce the compliance cost of taxpayers. It may also generate non-compliance as well as mis-reporting and under statement.

They said that for achieving the balance between correctness and compliance cost a penalty regime would be introduced from the next financial year.

The tax laws will be aligned with regard to the dispute resolution procedures, the officials said and added that a committee for such an alignment would be appointed in June 2002.

To address the issue of workload at tribunals level, the institution of collectorate of appeal for customs, sales tax and central excise duty with modifications will be revived from July 1, 2002, the officials said.

On the other hand, the officials appointed in the collectorate of adjudication and commissionarates of appeal will remain in their assignment for a minimum period of two years under the new system.

According to the officials, a legal division in each region would be established to monitor the quality of adjudication orders and develop a feedback system for performance evaluation of various adjudicating authorities.

Tax laws will be amended to provide computer generated appealable order for minor offences like delay in submission of return, the officials said.

The issue of mark-up and its rate by the taxpayers and the department will be discussed with the representatives of the taxpayers and based on outcome law will be framed in the forthcoming budget.

To overcome the huge volume of backlog at various forums, the officials said the matter would be taken up with the government for exploring the possibility of additional benches of tribunals.

With a view to reduce the compliance cost of taxpayers and disputes in litigation, the CBR will carry out legal changes for rectification of unwarranted errors or calculation mistakes involving small amount of taxes, the officials said.

On the other hand, to expedite the decision-making, the adjudicating authorities and appellate authorities for indirect taxes were required to decide the cases within the specified limit of 45 days extendible up to 90 days. This has been objected by superior legal forums, besides, it has also compromised the quality of adjudication orders.

According to the officials, it had been decided to prescribe limit of disposal of number of cases — 50-60 per month instead of the limit of number of days for disposal of cases.