On the directions of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), taxpayers will now be able to apply for and process changes of tax jurisdiction from one city to another through an online module of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

An own-motion investigation was initiated by the FTO office due to the lack of an automated module for issues relating to changes of jurisdiction, which created hardships for taxpayers. “While investigating various complaints, this office has received several complaints wherein taxpayers faced hardships when applying for a change in jurisdiction.

However, when it comes to applying for a change in jurisdiction from one field office to another, taxpayers have to submit manual applications, which is time-consuming as no online module for applying for a change in jurisdiction is available in the IRIS system,” the FTO order stated.

The issue has already been decided in more than a hundred complaints by the FTO and upheld by the President of Pakistan. The recommendations of the FTO in similar complaints were implemented by the FBR; however, no permanent solution for efficiently handling change of jurisdiction applications was developed and made available. However, in this own-motion investigation, the FBR has provided an update, stating that the online module will soon be available for taxpayers, as the test run was conducted on September 23, 2024.

The hardships faced by taxpayers due to the inordinate delay caused by the non-availability of an online module for applying for a change of jurisdiction fall under the ambit of maladministration. Currently, the issue is being addressed with necessary changes in the system by the concerned Board authorities.

The FBR should direct the Member (Information & Technology) to implement the proposed online module for applying and processing