President Zardari pushes for effective follow through on FTO decisions

President Asif Ali Zardari has urged tougher systems to track whether the directives and suggestions of the Federal Tax Ombudsman are actually carried out, according to a press release reported by Mettis Global. He stressed that remedies given to complainants must have real effect instead of being merely procedural. The remarks came during a meeting at Aiwan-e-Sadr with Ombudsman Zafar-ul-Haq Hijazi, who presented the FTO's Annual Report 2025, while Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was also present.

Zardari described the FTO as an important institution for identifying, probing and correcting injustice arising from maladministration in the enforcement of federal tax laws. He also pushed for wider use of new technology so that complaints could be settled more quickly.

Figures presented to the president showed that 37,160 fresh complaints were lodged with the FTO in 2025, and 35,830 complaints and cases were closed during the same year. Refund claims exceeding Rs13,000m were also decided, and the FBR paid the due sums to aggrieved taxpayers.