The Supreme Court (SC) took cognizance of a media report, which had revealed that approximately Rs 3.5 trillion of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) tax revenue claims were tied up in litigation, and ordered to the FBR to submit a report on the veracity of the information mentioned in the report through the Attorney General’s Office of Pakistan (AGP) within one week, Grandstand Express reported Friday.

According to the outlet, the report had revealed details of the ongoing litigation in different forums and the same data was shared during the meeting chaired by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah on February 22.

According to the details, about 80% of FBR’s tax revenue claims are pending before the internal bodies of the tax collection agency, such as collector commissioners and appeal courts.

Moreover, till January 25, a total of 90,426 tax cases were pending in different forums where Rs 3,303,740 million were at stake.

Of the Rs 3.5 trillion, Rs 2,556 billion was pending before the Courts of Appeal and Collector Commissioners. A total of 58,937 cases were pending before the Courts of Appeal, involving tax revenue of Rs 950 billion; 19,523 cases were pending before the Collector Commissioners in which Rs 1,606 billion in tax revenue was claimed by the FBR.

“About Rs 410 billion of tax revenue claims are blocked in the higher courts.” A total of 2,959 cases were pending before the Supreme Court, involving tax revenue of Rs 72.208 billion. Up to 1,298 FBR cases were pending before the IHC, involving tax claims of Rs 232.66 billion.