ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has constituted 18 Alternative Dispute Resolution Committees (ADRCs) for tax disputes.

The committees were constituted under the sales tax, federal excise and income tax heads. Out of these, 14 ADRCs have so far successfully decided disputes referred by different grieved taxpayers to the FBR since July 2020.

An official announcement said that these committees have been constituted during the period July 2020 to February 2021.

The FBR has stated that the said mechanism, as part of out-of-court settlement and revenue mobilisation, has been activated to enable taxpayers to get their disputes settled in lesser time and without incurring litigation cost.

Through Finance Act 2020, an applicant, in order to avail ADRC, is not required to withdraw his case pending before any appellate forum.

To make the process more transparent and trust-worthy, ADRC is composed of three members including Chief Commissioner-IR from the department’s side and notable chartered accountants/lawyers and businessmen from the private sector.

The committee is also empowered to stay the process of recovery in case of hardship. Taxpayer’s application has to be finalised by the committee within a short period of 120 days which in itself is a big relief considering the usual time taken in various appellate fora before a case attains finality.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021