FBR’s online data system undergoes security breach

KARACHI: The online data system of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has witnessed a serious security breach as a number of registered taxpayers managed to electronically revise their returns without prior permission, sources said.
The sources said the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Karachi has issued notices to several taxpayers for the security breach after the investigation and prosecution zone found that the taxpayers bypassed certain checks to enter the database and amend their tax profiles.
They said there is a procedure defined in the tax laws for taxpayers to revise their returns.
A taxpayer needs to submit an application to amend or revise a return through the online portal.
The concerned commissioner of the Inland Revenue (IR) receives the application and is authorised to allow or reject the request while exercising his discretionary power.
The commissioner’s decision appears in the taxpayer’s folder and the taxpayer is informed via email and a mobile phone message about it.
Commissioner Dr Faiz Illahi Memon at IR sent notices to the taxpayers for the security breach.
“You have revised monthly sales tax return of various tax periods without filing written or online request for the revision of sales tax return,” read a notice.
“The unilateral revision of sales tax returns without seeking approval of the competent authority extends sufficient ground to believe that you have entered into the FBR e-portal with mala fide intent, without authorisation and in violation of Section 26(3) of Sales Tax Act, 1990 warranting immediate action,” it said.
Tax officials at RTO Karachi said the letter is self-explanatory.
Whether the persons accessed the Federal Board of Revenue data with criminal intent or there was a lapse on the part of the commissioner or his user ID and password might have been misused, they said.
FBR’s online portal for inland taxes is already under severe criticism due to its efficiency as filing of income tax returns for the tax year 2015 has already been delayed.
Further, the monthly withholding tax statements are also not filed for any month in the tax year 2016 and filing has been extended to October 31, 2015.
The sources said the latest infringement raised question on the security of taxpayers’ data as the Federal Board of Revenue is intending to make a huge database using its computerised Iris tax system.