All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Aamir Fayyaz has denounced the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for rolling back all sales tax refund payment orders (RPOs) issued to the export-oriented sectors.
The APTMA chief has pleaded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to intervene by asking the FBR to disburse payments as soon as possible. He added that the immediate payments of outstanding refunds of sales tax could ease the liquidity crunch that the industry is facing.
He added that the FBR has been resorting to unjust tactics to delay refund payment for the 2016-17 tax period, as the chief (Automation and Sales Tax) of FBR has already issued instructions for rolling back of RPOs to all Chief Commissioners RTO/LTUChief.The APTMA Chief warned that any further delay in payments would cause serious liquidity crunch for exporters who would be unable to process further export orders.
The APTMA chairman revealed that Rs25b input tax refunds of exporters are pending for disbursement against the already issued RPOs. He further said that the FBR has a laid down procedure for rolling back the refund claims filed under expeditious refund system (ERS) under STGO No.19/2010. However, the FBR has rejected all claims through a letter without presenting any justifications of doing so on individual claims, he added.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the PM had announced the export-led growth package on January 10. However, it has been four months and no payment has been made to exporters against the realisation of exports, he added.
Fayyaz said the drawback of taxes, as agreed and announced by the PM against the realisation of exports should be processed immediately. He informed that the amount to be released over the last four months is around Rs30-40b at Rs10b per month against exports of 18 months to accumulate to Rs180b package.
The APTMA chairman warned that the government is quickly losing credibility as it is unable to deliver its commitments it had made to exporters. He further stated that the industry would, by and large, suffer because of a persistent liquidity crunch and would lose their foreign buyers.
