The Expeditious Refund System (ERS) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is facing technical problems in payment of sales tax refunds to certain manufacturers-cum-exporters due to non-availability of the corresponding customs/Mate Receipt data in the ERS, which is causing serious concerns among the exporters bound to file claims under this system.
It has been reliably learnt here on Monday that the FBR has issued instructions to the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (Pral), a subsidiary of the FBR, to immediate take corrective measures and fix the problem to ensure availability of the customs data and Mate Receipt information with the ERS. The major problem has been witnessed during the transmission of information from the customs clearance systems to the ERS.
There is a lack of regular and complete flow of data from customs system to the ERS. In order to fill the gap, the FBR has to take immediate measures to resolve the problems faced by the manufacturers-cum-exporters. Sources said that the major irritant in the usage of the ERS by the manufacturers-cum-exporters is the non-availability of the said information with the ERS resulting in non-payment of refunds to the exporters.
Sources said that the FBR had made it mandatory for the manufacturers-cum-exporters to file their refund claims electronically, but they are facing serious problems in verification of the MR information and Goods Declaration (GD) related information from the ERS. Unless or until the information about the MR or GD is not verified, the ERS would not be able to process the claim.
In other cases, the system is unable to verify the GD related data from the customs department. Secondly, the MR option is not available in the system and refund could not be processed. It is yet not clear that why the FBR had made it compulsory for the manufacturers-cum-exporters to file claims only through the ERS in current circumstances when the system is not timely providing MR related data.
The manufacturers-cum-exporters have no other option except to file claims under the ERS. Due to limitations of the exporters, it is very difficult for the concerned sectors to obtain refunds due to technical problems in the ERS. The compulsion for the manufacturers-cum-exporters to only file the claims through the ERS has confused them under the current situation.
The manufacturers-cum-exporters were constantly raising a technical objection in the ''Expeditious Refund System'' whereby provision of Mate Receipt (MR) was not available in the system for the last many months. However, the system has yet not been improved, resulting in delay in processing sales tax refunds under the electronic system.
Sources said that the confirmation of the export of shipment is done by Mate receipt. This receipt is an acknowledgement that the ship-owner has received the export shipment. The exporter has to specify the goods declaration for export indicating Mate Receipt number for processing of refund claims. In the absence of provision relating to MR in the ''Expeditious Refund System'', refund applications could not be processed electronically.
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