KARACHI (September 13 2003): The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has reached an agreement with businessmen on Section 73 of the Sales Tax Act, which, among other things, will be amended to allow for a six months credit period to exporters for claiming sales tax inputs.
The new draft of Section 73, incorporating the agreed points, will be issued in 15 days.
The agreement came at a meeting between the Chairman, Central Board of Revenue (CBR), Riaz A. Malik, and representatives of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) held at the Sales Tax House here on Thursday evening.
Giving the details of the meeting, renowned sales tax consultant Shabbar Zaidi told Business Recorder on Friday that under the agreement, the condition of payment before claiming refund had been withdrawn and the exporters had been allowed to pay for their purchases in six months.
However, if they did not pay during the specified period, they would have to deposit the refund amount in the treasury.
It was further agreed at the meeting that the exporters would be required to disclose the bank account through which the payment for purchases had been made.
The issue of payment through cheques was also discussed at the meeting and it was decided that the payment of the entire amount of the invoice would have to be paid through cheques, unlike the earlier condition of payment of only sales tax amount through banks.
Shabbar Zaidi described the agreement on Section 73 between the CBR and the businessmen a great breakthrough, which was the result of mutual understanding of each other's point of view.
He said that the complex issues pertaining to Section 73 had been agitating the minds of business community, which would now concentrate more on exports.
The resolution of differences on Section 73 would ensure smooth flow of trade activities in the country.
The CBR Chairman, Riaz Ahmed Malik, was assisted at the talks, among others, by the member, sales tax, CBR, Shahid Ahmed. The FPCCI team consisted of Haroon Farooqui, Qaiser and Shahid Nawab.
