LAHORE: The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) has issued a statement dismissing media speculation that it had issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) on Friday to exempt senior army personnel from paying duties levied on vehicles upto 6,000cc. The statement itself was issued by Asad Tahir Jappa Chief PR/Director Media, FBR.
The FBR’s statement is as follows “FBR categorically denies reports appearing in some sections of media that it has issued an SRO allowing taxes and duty free import of bullet proof vehicles. Federal Cabinet had allowed such facility in 2019 but no notification to this effect has been issued so far.”
Numerous media reports cited over the course of the past twenty-four hours stated that FBR had issued an SRO stating that “the Federal government is pleased to exempt customs duties, sales tax, federal excise duty and withholding tax on import of bullet proof vehicles falling under PCT Code 87.03 for Lieutenant Generals and above on retirement by the concerned authorities”
The reports suggested that the import of two vehicles for four star Generals (Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee and Services Chiefs) and one vehicle for Lieutenant Generals had been sanctioned.
The reports had suggested that the notification had been approved by the Law Division, and that it was with the Prime Minister Secretariat awaiting imminent approval. However, neither of the two had issued any statement regarding the matter. In view of their silence and FBR’s statement makes it likely that the aforementioned two have used the FBR as a conduit to dismiss the speculation.
The prompt nature of the statement is likely due to the fact that many saw this as a means to circumvent the various duties and taxes that the government had levied on the import of cars as part of its policy to stem the outflow of foreign exchange.
