KARACHI (July 30 2003) : The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has agreed to withdraw the condition of submitting proof of sales tax (ST) payment to the suppliers in the same tax period and a notification to this effect would be issued shortly.
This was stated by the Director General, Sales Tax House, Mumtaz Haider Rizvi, during a meeting with a delegation of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea) on Monday.
The delegation was led by the acting Chairman, Prgmea, South Zone, Atiq Cochra.
Giving details of the meeting, the Chairman, Prgmea Sales Tax Sub-Committee, Abdul Wahid Bandukda, said that under Section 73 for the purpose of claiming refund, an exporter was required to submit the proof of payment of sales tax within the same tax period, which was not possible because the tax paid on purchases made on the 30th of a month would be reflected in the exporters' account after two days, which would be the beginning of a new tax period.
He said that Rizvi told him that the CBR had accepted the exporters' point of view on the issue and a notification would be issued soon to withdraw the condition of same tax period.
The Prgmea delegation informed the Director-General, Sales Tax, that the association had installed the software for serving as a Sales Tax service centre for its members as allowed by the CBR.
The system had been installed and tested.
Rizvi directed the Sales Tax Collector to fix two days in a week to receive refund cases in floppies from the Prgmea members for onward despatch to the Star System in Lahore for processing.
The Prgmea, the largest value-added textile association, has been given the status of a service centre for speedy processing of refund cases of its members.
The Director General, Sales Tax, assured the Prgmea that the new updated list of suspected units would be provided in a couple of days.
The exporters have been advised not to deal with those units, who are sales tax defaulters.
He further said that the refund cheques, which were stopped due to the shifting of the Sales Tax Collectorates to the Sales Tax House, would be released soon.
The delegation also handed a list of pending cases of sales tax refund pertaining to the Prgmea members.
They were assured by DG, ST, that the refund would be effected within seven days or reasons for non-payment would be conveyed to the association.
Wahid appreciated the setting up of a modern Sales Tax House, which would provide all sales tax related services under one roof.
The house would work on the pattern of Large Taxpayer Unit, which assigns one function to one officer, having separate collectors for refund, assessment, audit and adjudication.
