Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of tax cases involving over Rs 2 trillion have been pending in various courts of the country, according to the official documents.
According to the data shared by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), up to September 30, 2022, there were some 87,958 tax-related cases pending in various courts, including high courts of the five provinces and territories to the Supreme Court and appellate tribunals.
Of the total 87,958 cases, 13,392 are customs-related cases involving Rs249 billion. Of these cases, most are pending before the Sindh High Court (SHC) with 5,345 cases with a total tax value Rs147 billion involved.
The second highest number of cases are pending before Customs Appellate Tribunal where 5,058 cases are pending with a total tax value involved of Rs75 billion. By contrast, there were just 65 cases pending before the Balochistan High Court with a total involved value of Rs4.5 billion. Some 689 cases are pending before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) with Rs2 billion involved.
Similarly, 1453 cases are pending before Supreme Court of Pakistan, 210 before Islamabad High Court, 5345 before Sindh High Court, 572 b before Lahore High Court, 689 before Peshawar High Court. The remaining, around 74,566 cases pertaining to Inland Revenue, have around Rs2.33 trillion involved. Of these, most of the cases are stuck in the Appellate Tribunals.
