The leaders of the United Business Group (UBG) – referring to the instructions issued to the Chief Commissioners of Field Formations by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) vide it’s letter dated 11th October 2021 have urged the Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen and Dr Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmad, Chairman FBR to restore the withdrawal clause in the constitute and making it mandatory for the taxmen to obtain FBR Chairman approval and intimate the tax defaulters at least twenty four hours before freezing their bank accounts and recovery of outstanding amounts.

The UBG leadership argued, ” It tantamount to the harassment of the tax payers who are already under the tax net and would serve as counterproductive to the government’s efforts of ease of doing business and broadening of tax base through persuasion instead of prosecution. It would also erode the confidence of the tax payers in the tax law – a pre-requisite for the success of any scheme, they added.

The UBG leadership lamented that instead of offering incentive and gaining existing taxpayers’ confidence and emulating of new potential taxpayers to join the tax net voluntarily, the FBR had again resorted to disillusion and burden them.

Moreover, the UBG also proposed that Section 48 of the Sales Tax Act 1990 and Section 140 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 should not be exercised unless the case under litigation has undergone First Appellate stage and after 1st Stage, approval of the Chairman FBR should be required for the attachment of bank account.