Collection of infrastructure cess data: no PACCS online facility for Sindh E&T Department: FBR

The Federal Board of Revenue has expressed its inability to provide Pakistan Customs Computerised System (PACCS) online facility to the Sindh Excise and Taxation Department for collection of data pertaining to infrastructure cess at the import stage.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the Sindh government had asked the FBR to provide the direct connectivity with the PACCS to have online information about the imports for collection of infrastructure cess at the import stage. The department hoped that the collection of cess would be greatly streamlined once it is connected with the auto clearance system of PACCS of the customs.
As the PACCS has no specific in-build module in the system for providing online connectivity, it is not practically possible for the FBR to give online connectivity to the Provincial Excise and Taxation Department. Due to technical reasons, the absence of relevant module in the PACCS would not facilitate online connectivity between the PACCS and the Excise and Taxation Department of Sindh.
Sources said that the FBR has provided free of cost online connectivity of Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (Pral) to the Excise and Taxation Department, Sindh. Through this arrangement, the provincial excise department can access all the import transactions, which were recorded into the Pral database. All import transactions which came into the Pral system have online connectivity with the provincial excise department for collection of import cess. There is a difference between the online connectivity of data with the Pral and the PACCS, as the former is a company, which has the facility to incorporate necessary imports data including any collection of cess.
The FBR has informed the Sindh government that it is not yet possible for the FBR to provide system access to a private company. The FBR has already been engaged in resolving issues relating to the PACCS for the last one year. Therefore, presently such access of the PACCS cannot be granted to the provincial excise and taxation departments.
The excise department is also trying to link collection of infrastructure cess with the auto clearance system, PACCS of Model Customs Collectorate, which collects all FBR taxes on imports. At present the IC is collected through challans issued by Pral and imports are only cleared after the consignee deposits the cess in the bank. The infrastructure cess is charged on the fob value of all imports landing at the Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Jinnah Terminal (airport). The cess was one of the main contributors to the Sindh government revenue.