Karachi: Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA), in a letter, has requested the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to accept the declarations of people who filed for the government’s amnesty scheme after 5 PM on July 3, a news source reported.
The government had announced the extension in the due date of the amnesty scheme till July 3, 2019. This was provided legal cover through the promulgation of Asset Declaration (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 wherein the last date of June 30, 2019 was substituted with July 3, 2019.
However, at 4:00 PM on July 3, 2019 FBR had issued a clarification on its website that the last date to file the amnesty was actually with a time limit of 5:00 PM.
According to the letter by KTBA, the general belief and tacit understanding is usually that any due date in the English calendar ends only at the midnight at 12:00 PM. However, FBR clarification was based on the press conference where it was mentioned that the last date was till banking hours of July 3, 2019.
According to KTBA’s letter, the FBR clarification at the last moment created panic amongst the taxpayers. The resultant rush to file the amnesty resulted in the crash of government Iris system.
KTBA also maintained that since the ordinance didn’t mention a limitation to 5:00 PM, it should not be implemented. Further, that even if Payment Slip ID (PSID) was submitted to a bank by 5:00 PM, it would still be imposed to file the declaration on FBR’s Iris portal simultaneously.
Based on all these facts, the FBR Chairman have been requested to allow the submission of declarations for all those who submitted their PSID in the bank by closing hours of banks but failed to file declaration due to Iris system’s failure.
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