KARACHI (April 22 2003) : Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has waived a 15 percent sales tax on the export of sugar by Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).
TCP Chairman Syed Masood Alam Rizvi said here on Monday that the CBR has accepted the request of the Corporation for waiving the sales tax duty on the export of sugar.
He said that it was very cumbersome to deposit sales tax on the sugar procured from mills and then to claim refund from the CBR.
He was of the view that when the procured sugar is subject to export only why this hassle. “The CBR has accepted our plea and removed the sales tax on this sugar,” he added.
He said that the TCP has so far purchased 87,000 tonnes of sugar and only 13,000 tonnes will have to be procured now.
The government had asked the TCP to purchase 100,000 tonnes of sugar from the mills to help the sugar industry, which was facing the crisis of surplus stock and liquidity crunch.
The sugar industry has approached the government to buy more sugar as it was accumulating a surplus of about 600,000 tonnes from the last season.
Industry sources said that the negotiations are continued between their representatives and the government for the purchase of another 100,000 tonnes of sugar for export purposes.
“We hope that the government will buy another 100,000 tonnes of sugar to bail out the industry from the present crisis,” sources said.
