Time-Barred Tax Appeals Rejected, Questions Raised Over FBR’s Performance
Lahore: Serious questions have been raised over the working of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) after courts dismissed several tax appeals filed by the department due to being time-barred. The Lahore Tax Bar Association’s Public Interest Litigation Committee
(LTBA-PILC) has termed this situation a clear sign of inefficiency and institutional failure, calling for an immediate probe at the highest level.
In a formal letter sent to Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, the committee urged the government to investigate how and why such appeals were filed late, resulting in permanent loss of recoverable tax revenue. According to LTBA-PILC, these mistakes are not minor procedural issues but repeated failures that have caused billions of rupees in losses to the national exchequer.
The committee pointed out that courts, including the High Court, have clearly observed that FBR officers filed appeals well after the legal deadline, despite settled law and clear judicial precedents. Such actions, it said, amount to negligence, poor administration, and possible misuse of authority. LTBA-PILC also expressed concern that this pattern creates doubts about whether certain parties are being deliberately facilitated at the cost of public revenue.
Another significant issue brought forth was the absence of accountability within the FBR. The committee was eager to know the officials responsible for the vetting of these appeals before they were filed and why those officials had not yet been punished for the same. The committee asked for the names of the officials and the action, if any, initiated against them to be made public by the FBR.
Renowned tax lawyer Waheed Shahzad Butt termed this scenario as “an institutional failure to protect revenue.” He reiterated about the significance of raising time-barred appeals, as such actions should not be considered as incompetence, as they cause further burden on honest taxpayers.
With tax reform and digitization being among the priorities for the government in 2025, according to experts, this matter accentuates the fact that there is an urgent need for greater control, accountability, and screening in FBR.