January 22, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 21, 1426

ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has disposed of 17,890 income tax appeals and indirect taxes adjudication cases during the first half (July-Dec) of the current fiscal year.

The Chairman Central Board of Revenue M. Abdullah Yousuf presided over two separate quarterly conferences of commissioners of Income Tax (Appeals) and collectors of Customs, Sales Tax and Federal Excise (Appeals) here on Saturday. He directed the tax officers to decide all the cases judiciously and purely on merit within the prescribed period of 90 days.

“We must deal all the appeals and adjudication cases of taxpayers with utmost responsibility, efficiency and transparency,” he added.

Briefing the conference on the latest position of appeals, adjudication, Member (Legal), Mumtaz Ahmed Sheikh said that the total tendency of Income Tax appeals on July 1, 2005 was 3,624, in which an amount of Rs12.5 billion was involved and during the period about 15630 fresh institutions were made.

Out of these, 9,792 appeals were disposed of by December 31, 2005. On the collectorates side, 916 cases were pending on July 1, 2005, involving an amount of Rs643 million and from July to December, 2279 fresh cases were filed. Out of these, 2,498 cases have been decided leaving only 634 cases as pending.

Similarly, a total of 2,764 adjudication cases were pending on July 1, 2005, and a total of 4,280 fresh cases were filed and 317 cases were remanded from July 1, to December 31, 2005.

Out of these, 5,600 cases have been disposed of leaving a pending balance of 2,962 cases in which an amount of Rs20.3 billion is involved, the Member added.

Addressing the conference, the chairman expressed the confidence that the quality of the decisions of appeals made by commissioners and collectors would also be improved considerably.

“I hope now your decisions would be sustain by the higher courts,” he added.

He called upon the tax officers to come up with suitable recommendations to make the existing relevant laws and rules more simple and transparent. He also advised them to avoid conflicts as far as possible so that level of litigation is further reduced.

Mr Yousuf underscored the need to focus on four regions —Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar where pending cases involved an amount of Rs11 billion out of the total outstanding amount of Rs12 billion against 1,437 pending appeals.

While reviewing the current level of litigation pending before Supreme Court, the chairman informed the conference that the Supreme Court had constituted a Special Bench to hear the cases of CBR.

About 700 appeals were heard and argued in the Bench from December 19 to 27, 2005, he said adding that total pending cases before the Supreme Court were 1,150 which involve 160 issues.

He was of the opinion that Supreme Court decisions would serve as a guiding principles not only for the department but also for High Courts and Appellate Tribunals.