Chief Commissioner of Inland Revenue and Others are suspended by the PM

Taking notice of the “willful” delay in tax cases, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered the chief commissioner of the Inland Revenue Service and other pertinent officials to be suspended.

Additionally, the prime minister gave the order to start an investigation against the police.

Not long after taking office, the prime minister chose to take charge of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and ordered swift reforms.

According to specifics, tax tribunals are now deliberating over cases involving government income valued at billions of rupees. The top justice of Pakistan has been asked by the prime minister to expedite the resolution of certain cases.

The premier has instructed the appropriate authorities to look into a case in which an FBR attorney had requested an adjournment.

He noted that the backlog of tax cases totaling billions of rupees was negatively impacting the national exchequer.

Shehbaz said he would not put up with any delay in resolving these legal issues and promised to keep an eye on the tax revisions.

The prime minister was reported in the news release as adding, “They would have to strive day and night for enhancing revenue and saving every penny of the country and nation.”

There are now 145,036 cases in various courts that are outstanding, including tax cases totaling Rs 4.23 trillion that have not yet been adjudicated.

19,528 cases totaling Rs740 billion were pending in four high courts, according to FBR officials.

They also mentioned that 3,455 tax cases totaling Rs1.40 trillion remained for the Supreme Court to rule on. Tax issues have left the federal government with a sum of Rs2.23 trillion frozen.

The government is also thinking of proposing legislation to close the FBR Inland Revenue Appeal Commissioner offices, which caused delays in cases totaling Rs1.15 trillion.