ISLAMABAD: The steel industry has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to collect taxes from steel units located in former federally and provincially administered tribal areas and from steel units in sugar mills located across the country.
Through a letter, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, Pakistan Association of Large Steel Producers (PALSP) has lodged a complaint to the FBR asking the tax collecting body to recover Federal Excise Duty (FED) from steel units that were established in certain specialised areas.
The letter to the chairman FBR said that FED should be recovered from steel units established in former Fata, various areas of Pata, subsidiary units in the sugar mills and those units that were running at self-generated basis.
“According to our market intelligence, unfortunately, FED is not being recovered from the steel units in FATA/PATA and it is creating unhealthy competition in the market and creating serious problems for units paying taxes and duties ethically,” the letter to the FBR said.
The letter further states that “In the federal budget 2019, the government levied FED on steel furnaces and re-rolling mills w.e.f., 1-7-2019 and the levy was extended to FATA/PATA steel units as well. The FED on steel units running in sugar mills & steel units running on self-generated power, were also subject to an independent metering panel system under lock and key of LTU.”
“Unhealthy competition has been created in the markets of certain areas due to non-recovery of FED from such units,” the PALSP letter read.
FBR had sought information regarding inputs in production of steel and the supply on month-wise basis from the start of the current fiscal year.
However the PALSP letter to the chairman FBR has highlighted that the officials have not made any recovery of FED from eight steel units operating in sugar mills and four furnaces at self power generation units in Multan and Hyderabad and few units in old Fata areas.
“In FATA/PATA area even the registration process has not been done so far by the concerned FBR authorities, while in the case of steel units running in sugar mills and self-power generation, no independent and exclusive metering panel system has been installed so far,” the letter read.
The letter also states that immediate measures should be taken and the steel manufacturing body asked FBR to share with the association the revenue collected from the two most sensitive areas.
