LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday urged Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to immediately stop the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from conducting raids at business premises and attaching business accounts.

LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz said a large number of members had complained that FBR officials were conducting raids at various business houses and had frozen their accounts without issuing any prior notice.

He feared that the FBR would not be able to meet its revenue target set for 2015-16 through strong arm tactics.

He said the attachment of bank accounts should be the last option, but the RTOs/LTUs were choosing it to be its first and preferred move.

“The FBR should not act as a trouble-maker,” he said.

He asked the FBR to focus on controlling under-invoicing and curbing the menace of smuggling besides expanding tax net.

Mumtaz said it was unfortunate that the FBR was not releasing what it owed to the business community but instead was terrorising the businessmen for the recovery of its outstanding dues to meet revenue target.

“If a tax defaulter was liable to penalties and attachment of bank accounts, the same should apply to the FBR functionaries if they failed to release the refunds claims of businessmen,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

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