ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Central Board of Revenue Chairman M. Abdullah Yousuf said on Saturday that 12 regional tax offices (RTOs) would replace the existing income tax circles and zones. These RTOs will be operational by December 2005.

The CBR chairman announced this while addressing the quarterly conference of regional commissioners of Income Tax, director generals of Large Taxpayers Units (LTUs) and zonal commissioners here on Saturday.

An official announcement said that 12 RTOs, which will have both income tax and sales tax offices under one roof, would be located at Peshawar, Abbotabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta.

Mr Yousuf said that all the administration and logistic issues, including accommodation and staffing of the proposed RTOs, be settled at the earliest to ensure that these offices become operational by the due date.

He emphasized the fulfilment of commitment made by the CBR to the prime minister, including enhancement of taxpayers' base by 20 per cent in the current financial year and clearance of pending IT appeals cases by 10 per cent in each quarter.

The CBR chairman expressed concern over the delay in payment of refunds by some commissioners. He observed that it was a stumbling block in the way of creating harmonious relationship between the CBR and taxpayers.

He asked the commissioners not to wait for filing of refund claims and initiate the processing and payment of refunds after scrutiny of taxpayers' returns. "Take the return as claim and ensure the payment of refund if it is within the stipulated time," he stressed.

About the appeals filed by the departments in higher fora, the CBR chairman expressed the need of constituting task forces for carrying out objective analysis and making recommendations whether to further pursue the cases or withdrawn them. "We should not go for unnecessary litigation if we do not have enough legal support," he added.

Earlier, tax policy and reform member M.S. Lal briefed the participants on the progress of current position of reforms of the tax administration. Member direct taxes Salman Nabi gave an overview of the performance of direct taxes during the first four months this year.