Only 'active taxpayers' to get VAT refund

Only taxpayers covered under the "List of Active Taxpayers" would be able to get refund of Value Added Tax under the Expeditious Refund System launched as an integral part of the VAT implementation plan. Sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday the VAT refund would not be paid to the 'inactive or risky taxpayers' under the said system.
The claims of 'risky taxpayers' would be subject to detailed scrutiny. Expeditious Refund System has ended the human intervention through automatic cross matching of data of refund claimant and his suppliers. The data would be verified without any manual intervention on the basis of risk-based profiling of the taxpayers. The FBR will immediately pay sales tax refund to the taxpayers (non-risky) electronically under the Risk Management System (RMS) of the Expeditious System.
The VAT refund would not be issued to those taxpayers where cases would be rejected by the RMS of the Expeditious System. Such cases of risky taxpayers would be subjected to detailed scrutiny under the normal system of verification. The FBR has identified those risky taxpayers, who would not be eligible for obtaining refunds under the Expeditious Refund System.
Following issuance of the Federal/Provincial VAT Bills, the FBR is making efforts for readiness on the IT side of the project. As a first step, the FBR has launched the Expeditious Refund System at the Regional Tax Office (RTO) Lahore. In order to handle the expected high volume of taxpayers call and queries, the FBR has planned to enhance the capacity of call centers, which would be doubled before implementation of the VAT.
Sources said the FBR is also working on establishment of the disaster recovery site to have backup of electronic database of the taxpayers. The FBR is also planning to establish Taxpayer Facilitation Centers (TFCs) in cities where RTOs are not established. Presently, there are 125 NBP branches where FBR help desks have been established assisting the taxpayers in making tax payments.
These help desks are planned to be converted into facilitation desks to deal with the VAT related matters as well. The efforts on preparation of VAT rules are also undergoing and the FBR will be in a position to launch the VAT rules by the time the VAT Act is approved by the Parliament.