COMMISSIONER INLAND REVENUE (LEGAL), ISLAMABAD vs PAKISTAN LNG LIMITED — 2026 PTD 192 SUPREME-COURT

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COMMISSIONER INLAND REVENUE (LEGAL), ISLAMABAD VS PAKISTAN LNG LIMITED. Ss. 137, 138 & 140---Tax recovery proceedings, execution of---Terms "amount payable" and "tax due"---Principles/distinction---Assessment order, passing of---Tax demand through issuance of notice under Section 137(2)---Appeal against assessment order, filing of---Dismissal of appeal---Outstanding tax amount, recovery/remitting of---Appropriate course of action---Within a short span of time (of about eight and half hours) from the decision by the Commissioner Inland Revenue-Appeals and it being uploaded on the FBR's web portal, notice for immediate recovery from Bank was sought by the Department on the same date as the notice---Whether a fresh notice under Section 137(2) was warranted; whether a notice under Section 138(1) should be issued, or if proceedings could be initiated under Section 140 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001---Held: Section 137(2) explicitly refers to the "amount payable" as delineated in the assessment order or any other order, indicating that until this "amount payable" is settled within the stipulated period, it cannot be classified as "tax due" within the sphere of Sections 138 and 140---Said distinction is crucial because it establishes that the mechanisms provided under Sections 138 and 140, which are designed for tax recovery, cannot be set in motion until such time as the initial obligation to pay has been met---Secondly, it must be noted that Sections 138 and 140 establish two independent and distinct modes for tax recovery---Consequently, the procedures enacted under one section cannot be utilised to activate the process chalked out in the other---Thus, the petitioner-Revenue Department remained unable to substantiate the validity of the notice under Section 140 of the Ordinance, 2001, consequently, no disturbance in the acceptance of the taxpayer's (respondent's) writ petitions and dismissal of the petitioner's (Revenue's) Intra-Court Appeals were made out---Appeals, filed by Department, were dismissed.

COMMISSIONER INLAND REVENUE (LEGAL), ISLAMABAD vs PAKISTAN LNG LIMITED — 2026 PTD 192 SUPREME-COURT

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