FBR to announce sales tax refund policy soon

Next phase of refunds with claims of more than Rs1m on the cards

MULTAN: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman will announce a comprehensive policy for the release of sales tax refunds in the first half of ongoing month in an attempt to address the burning issue frequently raised by traders and exporters, announced Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue Multan Aasim Ahmed.

The government already paid Rs26.43 billion in sales tax refunds to the traders and exporters covering 10,439 Refund Payment Orders (RPOs) on August 8, 2017, he said during a meeting at the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), chaired by MCCI President Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi.



Ahmed suggested that a time frame could be set with mutual understanding for the clearance of big claims of income tax refund. He gave assurances to businessmen that refund cases of up to Rs1 million would be cleared very soon.

He was of the view that errors and omissions in refund documents were the main cause of delay in payments. RPOs would be reprocessed and verified as part of a new exercise being carried out by field formations, he said, while firmly denying that taxmen were employing delaying tactics as was widely believed.

He told the businessmen that the next phase of tax refunds would begin soon in line with the RPOs with claims of more than Rs1 million.

“These refund payments will not only cover exporters, but will also cover claimants in all sectors of the economy. This will resolve the liquidity problem the taxpayers are facing,” he added.

In order to meet the commitment, the FBR is sending electronic payment advice to the State Bank of Pakistan.



The chief commissioner revealed that he had called a report about all pending tax refund cases within a week and said the deputy commissioner of income tax (headquarters) would also serve as the deputy commissioner (registration).

Responding to a question, Ahmed said the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Multan had made sales tax refund payments of Rs300 million and further improvement was expected in a couple of months.

He asked the MCCI to nominate its two representatives for inclusion in the Tax Advisory Committee, whose names would be notified immediately by the FBR.

In response to another question, the chief commissioner said the Intelligence and Investigation Department of the FBR did not come within his purview, but insisted that the department completed its homework before raiding any premises.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2017.

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