The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has discussed the budgetary proposals to check the misdeclaration, under-invoicing and smuggling through amendments in customs rules in the coming budget.
The collectors of customs submitted their budget proposals to CBR Chairman in the collectors'' conference here on Tuesday. The Board received the feedback from the collectorates identifying loopholes and these proposals will be incorporated in the budget in consultation with other relevant ministries and departments.
The conference also discussed disposal of confiscated vehicles, petroleum products, betel-nut and liquidation of goods lying at different collectorates.
Shahid Rahim, Member Customs told the conference that significant growth has been witnessed on import of various items during July-March (2005-06) against the same period of last year.
According to data submitted in the conference, 77 percent growth in customs duty was seen on import of mineral fuels, mineral oil; vehicles, 53 percent; articles of iron/steel, 47 percent; ceramic products, 41 percent; paper/paper board, 23 percent; iron/steel, 30 percent; animal or vegetable fats and oils, 22 percent and 17 percent growth in collection of duty has been recorded on the import of pharmaceutical products during three quarters of 2005-06.
He told the conference that net collection of customs duty was Rs 95.1 billion in July-March 2005-06 against Rs 80.1 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, showing 19 percent growth.
CBR Chairman Abdullah Yusuf said: "If anybody has any doubts about the reforms, he must remove it. We have to complete all the task within the stipulated time."
He said that staff of Regional Tax Offices and Model Customs Collectorates would get double salary. He advised the collectors to show total commitment to the job.
The Chairman informed the conference that out of 1150 cases filed in the Supreme Court, 1000 had been settled by the special benches, and hearing of the remaining 150 cases would start during the week.
He called upon the officers to withdraw all those cases which are not valid. On the other hand, the tax officials must pursue cases having legal backing and solid evidence, he added.
The revenue implications and overall impact of budgetary measures 2005-06 on different items were also reviewed in the conference.
Member Information Management System (IMS), Aamir Zafar, in his presentation on One-Customs initiative, informed the conference that Phase-I of the project had been completed. The project was launched to have one set of business rules implemented country-wide.
A number of features of Phase-II were implemented and the rest were under trial and would be fully operational by the end of next fiscal year. This would add transparency, reduce processing time and make the system paperless, he said.
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