April 2, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1427

ISLAMABAD, April 1: Central Board of Revenue Chairman M. Abdullah Yousuf on Saturday admitted that 70-80 per cent cases against taxpayers were instituted on frivolous grounds during the past years. Talking to reporters here, the CBR chairman said that according to his opinion all those cases were frivolous, which were not instituted on valid grounds and therefore they were not sustainable at the high courts.

Mr Yousuf said that 2,000 appeals of frivolous nature were withdrawn from the Supreme Court in the last two months. He, however, said that there would be no pendency by end of the current fiscal year.

He said special benches had been constituted by the Supreme Court to hear the pending cases of the CBR. Out of total 1,150 cases, 900 had already been disposed of and the remaining would be settled down shortly, the chairman said.

Mr Yousuf disclosed that the self-assessment scheme would also be introduced in the customs in near future. Under the system, taxpayers would be entitled to assess their taxes on the imported goods.

He said there was a need to give full autonomy to the tax administration for achieving the desired results. At present, he said, the CBR enjoyed more autonomy as compared to other government departments but added that it needed more autonomy.

“We hope that the current trend of 20 per cent in tax collection will continue which will enable us to collect revenue in the range of Rs708 billion,” the CBR chairman said.

Mr Yousuf also admitted that the government has made a request to the Dubai authorities for seeking information about the investment made by Pakistanis in the real estate sector. He did not agree with the impression that there was a capital flight on massive scale.