Abusing concessions: E&T Dept struggles with baggage of amnesty scheme

Dept seeks FBR’s help to expedite verification of documents for ‘cleared’ vehicles.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department has sought help from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) after its requests for verification of documents for vehicles cleared in an amnesty scheme and a number of special schemes have gone unheeded by the customs authorities.

At the heart of the matter are thousands of vehicles cleared in the amnesty scheme that had offered duty and tax concessions for regularisation of non-customs paid vehicles as well as under special statutory regulatory orders (SROs). The schemes were launched in 2012 and 2013 .

On May 21, the Punjab E&T Department wrote a letter to the FBR regarding the status of the no-objection certificates (NOCs) sought for the vehicles that had applied for registration in the Punjab. All vehicles imported and cleared under the amnesty scheme required an NOC from the customs authorities to verify the genuineness of custom documents submitted along with the applications for vehicle registration.

In the last two and a half years, owners of 3,008 vehicles cleared under the amnesty scheme have approached the excise authorities in the Punjab for registration of their vehicles. The Punjab E&T Department has sought to get the documents verified from the customs authorities, which have only given NOCs for 402 vehicles so far.

In the May 21 letter to the FBR, the Punjab E&T Department even expressed reservations over the authenticity of the NOCs for the 402 vehicles provided to the department so far. The E&T officials stated that the customs authorities based in various provinces had dissimilar patterns for the NOC, making it difficult to determine if the certificates were authentic.

On June 12, the Punjab E&T Department wrote to the Custom House Karachi in response to an unrelated communication, reiterating it concern regarding delay in furnishing the NOCs. The department said the delay was causing losses worth billions of rupees to the federal government.

E&T officials, on condition of anonymity, said that in the last few months, seven non-custom paid vehicles had been confiscated in Lahore and handed over to customs authorities. Another seven, seized in the last few days would soon be handed over to the customs, they added. The officials said the E&T Department apprehended that owners of several vehicles with forged documents had applied for registration.

They said details of the vehicles cleared through the amnesty scheme should be made available online so that non-custom paid vehicles using forged documents could be identified and seized. They said the delay in providing the required details was benefiting the owners of non-custom paid vehicles.

Punjab E&T Department Director General Naseem Sadiq said they had requested the FBR to intervene regarding the non-responsive behaviour of customs authorities in furnishing the NOCs. He said they had not received any reply to the letter sent to the FBR in May.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2014.