Karachi: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued an alert against fake tax recovery notices that have been found to be in circulation, a news source reported.
The alert cautioned tax payers against these notices and warned them not to provide their personal information – including bank account details – to the criminals responsible .
Badaruddin Ahmed Qureshi, Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, Regional Tax Office (RTO)-II Karachi said that the FBR had received complaints regarding fraudulent information-gathering attempts involving fake notices.
The Chief Commissioner advised the taxpayers to check the barcode on any income tax notice. Tax departments are not authorised to issue tax notices without this numeric inclusion.
According to sources , one of the fake notices received by a taxpayer came with logos of the FBR and RTO. It also included mention of the relevant provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 to make it look authentic.
The said notice had been sent through the government postal service. It also provided details of the recipient tax payer, including the National Tax Number and bank account numbers.
It even included an alleged correspondence initiated by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to freeze the tax payer’s bank account in case the dues were not cleared. As per standard procedure, the FBR issues notices to bank branches for freezing accounts to recover taxes.
