LAHORE: Apparently in a move to appease concerned stakeholders in the auto industry, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) says it has intensified a nationwide drive against smuggled and non-custom paid vehicles.
FBR Chairman Ali Arshad Hakeem told the APP here on Friday that special staff deployed for the task had been directed to bring all unscrupulous elements involved in the racket to book, without succumbing to any sort of pressure.
He said criminal elements will be prosecuted and brought to justice irrespective of their social status. Hakeem added that the federal government, especially President Asif Ali Zardari, had attached unprecedented importance to the issues faced by the business community.
When contacted, Customs Collector for Lahore Fazal Yazdani told the APP that the anti-smuggling unit had been reorganised on a special directive from the FBR chairman. The unit will operate under the supervision of the additional collector of Customs and conduct a series of surprise raids targeting tax evaders, he revealed. He also appealed to the public to contact authorities if they have any information on smuggled and non-custom paid vehicles.
The FBR chairman further said that all FBR members, Customs chief collectors and collectors, and chief commissioners and commissioners of Inland Revenue throughout the country have been directed to facilitate taxpayers, importers and exporters at their doorsteps. He said that all FBR officers posted at headquarters and in the field have been strictly directed to meet stakeholders in order to obtain firsthand information regarding the complaints of the business community, and to address the same on a priority basis.
Hakeem said that policy is being tailored to streamline and simplify tax filing procedures. He added that the overall working of Regional Taxpayers Offices and Large Taxpayers Units (LTU) across the country is also being improved.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2012.
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FBR can stop smuggling of imported vehicles if provided that prices of the locally made vehicles are reduced by reducing the heavily and hugely imposed taxes on vehicles' manufacturing plants within Pakistan so that Pakistani people could prefer locally made vehicles instead of smuggled vehicles thru any illegal and unlawful smuggling ways by using any means and manifestations.......