FBR Issues Clarification on Exemption Certificates

The Federal Board of Revenue has issued a clarification on a news story titled “FBR issues thousands of suspicious exemption certificates” appearing in a section of the press. The news item, inter alia, mentions that FBR field formations have issued thousands of exemption certificates without fulfilling the requirements envisaged in law. FBR has clarified that the news has been reported without understanding the relevant provisions of SRO 717(I)/2014 and the context of FBRs’ correspondence with field formations. The law stipulates an inherent mechanism for examining the propriety and correctness of the exemption certificates issued during a certain period and such exercise is a routine affair at the field formation level. Accordingly, field formations were asked by FBR to conduct scrutiny of the exemption certificates issued during tax year 2020 at the time of close of the tax year. The news has been reported out of context and without ascertaining the facts of the matter.