ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle said on Thursday that implementation of measures suggested in a report on the so-called Isaf container scam contributed customs revenue of over Rs1 billion a month and helped reduce smuggling by 60 per cent.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Suddle highlighted the achievements of FTO in 2012 and listed a number of steps taken by the government in the wake of the outcome of container scam investigations carried out by the FTO.

He said 2012 had been another remarkable year for the FTO because during the year Rs9.79bn was refunded by the FBR to taxpayers compared to Rs7.89bn in 2011.

The refunded amount included Rs822.33 million in 375 cases related to income tax, Rs125.06m in 25 cases to sales tax, Rs10.16m in a case of federal excise, Rs1.89m in three cases of customs duty and Rs8.83bn in 231,250 cases of duty drawback.

Taxpayers also received Rs1.61m as compensation for delayed payment of refunds in 30 cases.

He noted with satisfaction that Rs9.79bn, which taxpayers received during the year, were due to FTO’s intervention and this amount was almost five times they had received from 2002 to 2009 and 44 times the annual average they received during the same period.

Dr Suddle said the FTO received 1,689 fresh complaints last year, 883 related to income tax, 517 to sales tax, 269 to customs, 17 to federal excise and three to the ‘Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002’.