FBR devises new mechanism to report tax officials’ corruption

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has devised a new mechanism to file complaints against corruption of tax officials where identity of the complainants is kept secret.

The SOP is exclusively designed for the taxpayers who can lodge complaints of corruption, rent-seeking and unethical conduct against any FBR functionary without any fear of reaction or revenge, according to a report in Business Recorder.

The FBR asserts that the Board has consistently upheld a zero-tolerance attitude for corruption and rent-seeking. Integrity Committees were established at the head office and at each Inland Revenue (IR) Field Formation in order to stop these unethical acts. Under these committees, any citizen taxpayer with a complaint against an IR functionary could go to them and file it.

The FBR believes that while the Integrity Committee structure has demonstrated to be a respectable method of resolving complaints and increasing deterrence, it has not yet yielded the desired degree of outcomes. The most likely explanation for the Integrity Committees’ subpar performance is because the majority of complaints are made anonymously or without any supporting documentation or even the identification of the delinquent employees.

Without proper articulation of the issue, identification of the person (against whom the complaint is lodged) and some supporting evidence, the complaint becomes a generalized allegation, and therefore, not of much help to FBR in its crackdown on corruption. The issue has been examined by FBR and debated with members of the business community, the media, and opinion leaders.

It has come to light that the lack of disclosure of the details of the functionaries engaged, or the evidence of rent-seeking or corruption is due to the complainants’ basic fear of retaliation or a witch hunt by the same officer or officials. The FBR argued that regardless of the misplaced apprehension, it had to be adequately mitigated and that the complainants need to be shielded from any untoward retaliatory actions.