Committee formed to resolve tax refund issue
Govt refunded Rs12 billion over the last three months, says finance minister.
KARACHI:
The government is serious about resolving the income and sales tax refund issue and has refunded Rs12 billion over the last three months, which is 120 per cent higher than last year, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Saturday.
Responding to queries of Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) members during his visit here, Shaikh constituted a committee to resolve all the issues facing the members of OICCI, including income and sales tax refunds.
He said that the committee, comprising OICCI members and senior officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), will work till the resolution of all issues. The committee will also look into matters relating to implementation of a memorandum of understanding signed by the FBR and Pakistan Exploration and Production Companies Association (PEPCA).
The new refund mechanism ensures that corruption comes to an end, he said, adding that only senior FBR officials working under the centralised cheque processing system have the authority to issue refund cheques.
“I am personally supervising the issue of refunds so that no element of corruption comes in the way, and also to ensure that payments are made on time and the huge backlog is settled,” he said.
The minister said: “We would like to have a dialogue with the business community to take your input, feedback and also criticism to correct the course required in policy-making.”
He said that the government had made some achievements during its first two years regarding economic growth, controlling inflation, reducing fiscal deficit and introducing economic reforms.
However, three extraordinary events - rising security expenses, transfer of Rs300 billion from the federation to the provinces under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and unprecedented floods - have jeopardised all the economic planning.
Shaikh pointed out that the transfer of huge money from the federation to the provinces has added to the fiscal deficit which rose from four per cent to 5.2 per cent as provinces could not show surplus in their budgets. This has left very little room for the federal government to play around in terms of fiscal deficit, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2011.
The government is serious about resolving the income and sales tax refund issue and has refunded Rs12 billion over the last three months, which is 120 per cent higher than last year, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Saturday.
Responding to queries of Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) members during his visit here, Shaikh constituted a committee to resolve all the issues facing the members of OICCI, including income and sales tax refunds.
He said that the committee, comprising OICCI members and senior officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), will work till the resolution of all issues. The committee will also look into matters relating to implementation of a memorandum of understanding signed by the FBR and Pakistan Exploration and Production Companies Association (PEPCA).
The new refund mechanism ensures that corruption comes to an end, he said, adding that only senior FBR officials working under the centralised cheque processing system have the authority to issue refund cheques.
“I am personally supervising the issue of refunds so that no element of corruption comes in the way, and also to ensure that payments are made on time and the huge backlog is settled,” he said.
The minister said: “We would like to have a dialogue with the business community to take your input, feedback and also criticism to correct the course required in policy-making.”
He said that the government had made some achievements during its first two years regarding economic growth, controlling inflation, reducing fiscal deficit and introducing economic reforms.
However, three extraordinary events - rising security expenses, transfer of Rs300 billion from the federation to the provinces under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and unprecedented floods - have jeopardised all the economic planning.
Shaikh pointed out that the transfer of huge money from the federation to the provinces has added to the fiscal deficit which rose from four per cent to 5.2 per cent as provinces could not show surplus in their budgets. This has left very little room for the federal government to play around in terms of fiscal deficit, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2011.