Incorrect refund cheques issued

Incorrect cheques worth millions of rupees have been issued by FBR under centralised sales tax refund payment system.

ISLAMABAD: Incorrect cheques worth millions of rupees have been issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) under the centralised sales tax refund payment system. An FBR official disclosed that the cheques have been issued by Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL).

The official explained that even though the number of cheques is not large, the amount of refunds is substantial because the system is used to issue refunds to large manufacturer-cum-exporters.

In some cases more than one cheque was issued to the same individual, while cheques were also issued in the wrong names. “Most of these have been recalled,” said the official. None of the cheques, however, were cashed or deposited and the most of them have been returned.

Although the official blamed the mistake on the software used by PRAL and added that the FBR has launched an investigation into the matter, he did not rule out the possibility of human error.

The centralised sales tax refund payment system was recently launched by the FBR as an integral part of the reformed general sales tax regime.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2010.