KARACHI: A decision to refund stuck sales tax refunds of Rs6 billion in five-year cases has been given go-ahead by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday.
FBR officials said delayed cases for which processing was halted on technical grounds due to non-availability of supporting documents important for issuance of refunds will finally be resolved, reported The News.
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMEA) and All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) officials held a meeting with member, Inland Revenue (Operations) Khawaja Tanveer to discuss problem of stuck sales tax refunds.
During the meeting it was decided that a committee will be constituted to consider and resolve these deferred cases. It was decided in principle that cases of the last five years would only be investigated by the committee.
The tax watchdog’s online system uncovered these deferred cases and FBR officials decried a wrong perception was being painted about them creating impediments in issuance of tax refunds.
According to Corporate Regional Tax Office (CRTO), Karachi the taxpayer has to file refund claim through FBR’s online system and it automatically compares the invoices supplied by buyers and sellers and rejects, permits or defers the refund claims.
Deference arises only when supplied invoices aren’t matching or goods declaration (GD) isn’t available in cases of import. Tanveer promised the business community of providing them access to FBR’s online system for authenticating documents for clearing and further managing of refund cases.
He also assured refunds would be released next week for which refund payment orders (RPOs) have already been given go-ahead. Sales tax refunds of Rs42 billion have been released by FBR from July-November 2017 compared to Rs21 billion in same period of last year, registering a surge of 100 per-cent.
