Law: Income Tax Ordinance, 2001

Section: 131, 111, 127, 120(2A), 121, 122, 143, 144, 161, 162, 170, 182, 205

ORDER M. M. AKRAM (Judicial Member): The present appeal, along with the accompanying stay application, has been instituted by the appellant under section 131 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 (“the Ordinance”) as a first appeal against the impugned order dated February 28, 2026, passed by the learned Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue, RTO Rawalpindi, under section 111 of the Ordinance, pertaining to Tax Year 2022. The appellant has assailed the said order on various grounds as set forth in the memorandum of appeal. 2.      The appeal came up for hearing on May 20, 2026. At the very outset, the learned Authorized Representative (AR) for the appellant was confronted with the maintainability of the instant appeal inasmuch as the impugned order has been passed under section 111 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, whereas no consequential assessment order under section 122 of the Ordinance has yet been passed, which ordinarily constitutes the appealable order before the Commissioner (Appeals) or this Tribunal, as the case may be. In response, the learned AR for the appellant was unable to furnish any cogent or satisfactory explanation in support of the maintainability of the present appeal. 3.      The following question arises for determination: Whether an order passed by the Commissioner Inland Revenue under section 111 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, constitutes an independently appealable order under section 127 of the Ordinance, and consequently whether the taxpayer could validly invoke section 131 of the Ordinance by directly filing an appeal before this Tribunal while surrendering the remedy before the Commissioner (Appeals)? We have heard the learned AR appearing on behalf of the appellant-taxpayer as well as the learned Departmental Representative (DR) for the respondent-Department, examined the statutory framework governing the appellate hierarchy under the Ordinance and carefully perused the available record. 4.      The controversy involved in the instant matter lies within a narrow but significant jurisdictional compass, namely, whether proceedings undertaken under…