Consequent of issuance of Establishment Division O.M. No.6/2/2009-C.P.II dated 12.09.2009 and after obtaining options from officers of the defunct Income Tax Group and former Customs & Excise Group,on 15.11.2010, all officers of the defunct income tax group and a number of officers from the former Customs & Excise Group were immediately transferred and appointed to the Inland Revenue Service in terms of Civil Servants (Appointment, Transfer and Promotion) Rules 1973. As a result IRS came into being. At the same time, the former Customs & Excise Group was re-classified as Pakistan Customs Service and the defunct income tax group has ceased to exist.

IRS is now one of the elite federally constituted occupational groups. The government has approved 44 seats in BS-21 for IRS which is unmatched by any other occupational group. Members of this occupational group are selected after an extremely competitive process which generally involves candidates qualifying the Central Superior Services (CSS) Examination conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission. Another source of recruitment in BS-17 is the reserved quota for promottees who are promoted internally through internal promotional exams/length of service. Officers of the IRS administer the Inland Revenue Department which is responsible for collection of Income Tax, Sales Tax and Federal Excise receipts from across Pakistan. With government now increasingly focussed on increasing its revenue generation capacity, the role, importance and powers of IRS have greatly enhanced.

In view of this massive change, it is suggested that the folder should be re-named to Inland Revenue Service instead of Income Tax Group.

Recovery of sales tax: IR officials to have powers of civil court
SOHAIL SARFRAZ
ISLAMABAD (November 14, 2010) : The officials of the Inland Revenue would have the powers of civil court for the recovery of sales tax under a decree under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. According to a new section 64 of the general sales tax bill 2010, an officer of Inland Revenue can act as court in recovery matters.

"For the purpose of recovery of unpaid amounts of tax recoverable under this Act or the rules made thereunder, the officer of Inland Revenue shall have the same powers which a civil court has for the purpose of recovery of an amount due under a decree under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Provided that in case of any matter, if there is conflict or variance in the Code and this Act or rules made thereunder, the latter shall prevail'.

Where any amount of tax is due from any person, the officer of Inland Revenue, authorised by the Board in this behalf, may take all or any of the following actions to recover such amount, namely: Deduct the amount from any money owing to defaulter at his disposal or under his control or under the control of any other officer of Inland Revenue; require any person who holds or may subsequently hold any money for or on account of the defaulter to pay the amount; stop removal of any goods from the business premises of the defaulter or the associated person till such time as the recoverable amount is paid or recovered in full; require any person to stop clearance of imported goods or manufactured goods and attach bank accounts of the defaulter or his associated person.

The officer of Inland Revenue, authorised by the Board in this behalf, may take all or any of the following actions to recover such amount as well: To seal the business premises of the defaulter till such time the recoverable amount is paid or recovered in full; attach and sell or sell without attachment any moveable or immovable property of the defaulter; or recover such amount by attachment and sale of any moveable or immovable property of the guarantor, person, company, bank or financial institution where a guarantor or any other person, company, bank or financial institution fails to make payment under such guarantee, bond or instrument.

For the purpose of attachment under this section, the concerned moveable property may be seized and dealt with in such manner, including auction, as may be specified by the Board.


Published in Business Recorder, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has given officers of its Directorate of Internal Audit Inland Revenue the authority to arrest any taxpayer, industrialist, manufacturer or trader if found guilty of tax evasion.

The officers will now also have the authority to conduct raids on manufacturing units, stores and offices belonging to individuals who evade taxes. These changes were contained in notifications issued by the FBR. The notifications also gave officers the power to arrest individuals involved in the manufacture of fake cigarettes and to search the manufacturing premises.
The officers can register accusations against those suspected of tax evasion and present them in court.
The officers will also have the authority to search the accused individual’s premises for records and information for audit purposes.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2010.

These powers are not new and have in fact been replicated from the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. In fact, for the purpose of recovery of tax, section 138 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 provides that the Commissioner (including Assistant Commissioner), has the same powers a s a Civil Court has under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Furthermore, section 224 of the said Ordinance also provides that any proceedings before the Commissioner (including Assistant Commissioner) shall be treated as judicial proceedings within the meaning of section 193 and 228 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 and for the purposes of section 196 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860. The Income Tax Ordinance 2001 is an equally powerful law. Unfortunately, during the time of Abdullah Yousuf as Chairman FBR, officers were discouraged from exercising their powers because he himself was a Chartered Accountant and as an article of faith was deadly opposed to tax collectors. Now that he and his associates are no longer in FBR, things have transformed and full audit, enforcement and collection procedures have been revived which are proving a nightmare for dishonest taxpayers and their equally dishonest chartered accountants.

IRS is now on the facebook. You can search its page there.

Not sure why this sub-forum is still named Income Tax Group, when clearly the group name has changed to Inland Revenue Service. Moderator is requested to kindly look into this issue.

great....i hope dis does not lead to more corruption n help in increasing the taxnet instead of increasing the size of tax collectors pocket

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Shallow men believe in luck;Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Being defeated is often a temporary condition,Giving up is what makes it permanent.

When you join AGPR, you will realise how much corruption exists there and even for simple salary bills, the promotee accounts officers and clerks make lives so miserable for govt. servants. In fact all govt departments are full of corrupt practices. You can't single out any one of them. What you can say however with some surety is that whereas officers in the FBR very painstakingly collect the revenue, the revenue spending agencies like various federal govt ministries, programs, provincial government departments etc. spend that money like a drunken sailor. There is much hue and cry about tax collectors pocketing money due to enhanced powers and on this pretext vested interests have successfully tried to curtail there powers but no body pays any attention to the massive corruption that exists in revenue spending or disbursing departments which are mostly manned by DMGs, PSPs and AGPR officers.

i agreee....every1 has to play the part in curbing the menace of corruption in dere grp

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Shallow men believe in luck;Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Being defeated is often a temporary condition,Giving up is what makes it permanent.

MODS, WAKE UP!

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38th Commons

"Ingratitude is prerogative of people." Raza Shah Pehlvi

What is the first designation of IRS officers, when they join the service after FPOE ?

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39th CTP - IRS