KARACHI, January 2: The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) registered a record number of 8,128 complaints from taxpayers in 2023, representing a 41% increase compared to the 5,752 complaints registered in 2022.

According to a report released during a press briefing in Karachi, the spike in complaints comes after an aggressive outreach campaign launched by the FTO last year to raise awareness among taxpayers about the office’s role in providing free and swift justice related to tax matters.

FTO officials conducted 115 seminars nationwide with industry groups, tax bars, and universities as part of this campaign.

Additionally, the FTO introduced an online complaint registration system and promoted its WhatsApp complaint number through a text message sent out to 117 million mobile phone users by cellular companies at the direction of the Pakistan Telecom Authority.

Of the over 8,000 complaints registered, 8,076 were decided by the FTO, with 5,704 having actionable recommendations. Tax authorities implemented recommendations in 5366 cases, representing an impressive 94.07% implementation rate.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024