FASTER system: Dawood to be briefed on refunds/rebates payment on Monday

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will brief Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood on Monday (April 13) at the FBR House about payment of refunds and customs duty drawback/rebates to exporters under the new centralized system.

Sources told Business Recorder here on Friday that Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce is expected to visit the FBR Headquarters coming Monday.

The FBR team of members would inform the advisor about the steps being taken to expedite payments of refunds and customs duty drawback to exporters. This would be the first visit of any advisor/minister to the FBR Headquarters after lockdown and breakout of coronavirus in Islamabad/Rawalpindi.

The FBR will inform the advisor about the process of devising a transparent centralized system for issuance of income tax, sales tax and duty drawback refunds to the taxpayers in an expeditious manner.

This process is being undertaken to facilitate the taxpayers across the country. The FBR has further explained that the process cannot be made effective unless all the stakeholders extend their full commitment.

The FBR has urged exporters that any complaint regarding income tax and sales tax may be reported immediately to member IR operations. Since July 2019, refund claims amounting to Rs59 billion have been filed and the FBR has sanctioned Rs56 billion, which comes to around 95 percent of the claimed amount.

During March, the FBR has sanctioned refunds of Rs25 billion approximately to exporters. The FASTER (Fully Automated Sales Tax e-Refund) system is a fully automated system, which uses a risk management system for processing sales tax refunds without human interference.

The FASTER is operational for the tax periods July and onwards. The FBR strives to make timely payment of refunds to exporters, so that they do not face any liquidity issue.