Ayyan Ali moves court over tax notices

Karachi

Fashion model Ayyan Ali moved the Sindh High Court on Thursday against an ex-parte provisional assessment order of the income tax department for recovery of Rs18.85 million and an attachment order regarding her immovable property for defaulting on tax payments.

Currently on bail, Ayyan was facing charges of laundering money to the tune of US$500,000 to Dubai from Pakistan. She was arrested by the customs authorities at the Islamabad airport on March 14 last year after around US$506,800 were found from her luggage.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the income tax department had issued the provisional assessment against the petitioner while she was incarcerated in the Rawalpindi prison, and that she was not provided any opportunity to defend the show cause notice.

He argued that the petitioner had also filed an application requesting a stay order on July 23 before commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department against the ex-parte proceedings; however, the application was pending till date.

He submitted that the petitioner did not receive any notice regarding ex-parte proceedings, while the Defence Housing Authority issued a notice calling for her property, situated in Phase-VIII, to be attached on basis of the income tax proceedings, which he claimed were unjust and illegal.

The counsel submitted that the recovery demand was impugned and that it was pending adjudication before the inland revenue department’s commissioner; therefore, threats for recovery under section 137 and 138 (2) of the Income Tax Ordinance required of the appellate authority to first decide the appeal filed by the petitioner, urgently.

He submitted that it was a declared principle of the superior courts that coercive measures for recovery of disputed demands could not be taken while a decision on the first appeal was already pending.

The court was requested to direct the commissioner to decide the appeal on an immediate basis and in the meantime restrain the respondents from taking any coercive measures.