ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has urged traders and taxpayers to utilise e-payment facilities, as they help reduce cost of doing business and contribute significantly towards improving the ease of doing business.
“On the one hand, traders can electronically pay all import duties and taxes through customs computerized system ‘WeBOC’ at ports and border stations across Pakistan, while on the other hand, taxpayers can also electronically pay income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty sitting in their homes,” said FBR in a statement issued on Monday. “The e-payment system provides round the clock facility to taxpayers and traders to make online payment of customs duties and other FBR taxes as well as provincial cess and stamp duty.”
The facility is available through internet and mobile banking by using more than 15,000 ATMs of 16,000 Over the Counters (OTC) bank branches of commercial banks spreading across the country.
As per the FBR, taxpayers’ confidence and interest in e-payment is growing fast and it can be gauged from the fact that the proportion of number of e-payments of income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty has increased from 6.26pc of total payments during July to December 2019 to 40.5pc during same period of 2020.
Similarly, the proportion of amount deposited in these e-payments has increased from 13.55pc of total payments to 76.5pc during the comparative periods.
“E-payment facility has greatly helped the traders and other taxpayers’ during the Covid pandemic since all transactions can be completed without physical interaction. Currently, 18.6pc of import duties and taxes are being collected by Pakistan Customs through the e-payment system. More than 80,000 consignments consisting of nearly 22pc of total imports were cleared in WeBOC through E-Payment in the last 6 months. Apart from major customs stations including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar, the facility is also being availed by importers in remote areas like Taftan and Khunjerab.”
According to the statement, FBR has launched an awareness campaign to enhance the use of e-payment facilities. In this regard, a number of seminars have been conducted to educate trade bodies and customs agents about the benefits of e-payment. The traders can also take advantage of the FAQs section relating to E-payment available on the WeBOC web page.
