Law: Income Tax Ordinance, 2001

Section: 25,177

(a) Income Tax Ordinance (XLIX of 2001)---Ss.25, 177---Selection of case for audit---Word reasons---Scope---Petitioner taxpayer was aggrieved of letter and notices issued by authorities selecting its case for audit---Validity---Word reason connotes an expression giving justification for an action, a ground to explain something, a consensus of informed thoughts whether factual or legal---Reasons should be so explicit so as to catch ones eye at the first glimpse and should not be a leap in a dark or a subject of fishing and roving expedition, but has to be based on sound principles of law---Before conducting audit, department is legally obliged to muster those grounds after proper application of mind and thereafter, while confronting taxpayer about selecting the case for audit, mindful as well as meaningful reasons have to be advanced, which have to be convincingly intimated to taxpayer to enable the latter to furnish a suitable reply and advance objections, if any, and those reasons should be based on independent application of mind and not on the basis of some unfounded notions, or capricious believes---Requirements of section 25 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, would not be fulfilled until and unless proper, just and identifiable reasons were intimated to taxpayer with regard to selection of its case for audit---Only when such reasons were given and thereafter if no compelling response was received, the case could be selected for audit---Other parameters as enshrined under S.25 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, would then come into play---Such requirement of law could not be termed to be simply procedural only---High Court vacated letter and subsequent notices in question as those were not in accordance with law and directed that authorities were fully authorized under the law that if they had certain requisite material for selecting case of petitioner for audit, the same should be communicated to petitioner and proceedings could be initiated afresh in accordance with law---Constitutional petition was allowed accordingly. Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Sialkot and others v. Messrs Allah Din Steel and Rolling Mills and others 2018 SCMR 1328; Commissioner Inland…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492