ST collectors express inability to verify refund claims

The Collectors of sales tax have admitted that it is impossible to verify the suppliers located in the jurisdiction of other collectorates for checking the authenticity of refund claims filed by commercial exporters.
Sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday that the collectors have raised certain queries pertaining to clearance of pending refund claims filed by commercial exporters. It seemed that some collectors were unclear about how to process the refund claims involving blacklisted/suspected suppliers.
Last month, the Board had issued instructions to all collectors of sales tax that all refund claims pertaining to commercial exporters should be processed immediately on merit.
Following that directive, the collectors informed the CBR that verification was possible only in case of suppliers located within the same city. If the supplier is located in Karachi, it is easy to verify the data and trace the supplier by the Collectorate of Sales Tax and Federal Excise Enforcement, Karachi.
But it is difficult to meet this condition when suppliers are located in the jurisdiction of other collectorates, as it delays the processing of the claim because the requests sent to other collectorates for verification are seldom responded.
The collectors have also raised the question that the term 'suspected claims' needed clarification. Apparently, it applies to the claims that relate to exporters included in the list of 'suspected units' and where all suppliers are either blacklisted or their registration is suspended.
Secondly, claims containing invoices of both blacklisted and valid suppliers are to be entertained. In such cases, the amount of valid invoices are to be sanctioned subject to admissibility and the claims to the extent of blacklisted and/or registration suspended are to be subjected to chain audit. Thirdly, it seemed that the claims not containing invoices of blacklisted (and/or registration suspended) suppliers are to be entertained without the condition of chain audit. The collectors also asked whether the Board's instructions had been correctly been interpreted.
The Board has been requested to confirm the viewpoints of the collectors so that the instructions are implemented in letter and spirit, since this would have impact on efforts to dispose of the pending claims expeditiously, collectors added.