Importers irked by 'inordinate delay' in issuance of tax relief certificates

After the power under SRO 565 of issuing tax relief certificates were transferred to the customs department from Inland Revenue, the business community is running from pillar to post to get industrial raw material cleared for months but to no avail, Business Recorder leant on Friday.
According to sources, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) through SRO 565(I)/2008 granted substantial tax relief of 10 to 15 percent to telecom, industries, horticulture, automobile and aviation sectors on the import of its raw material. They said the power of issuing tax relief certificates was earlier in the jurisdiction of Inland Revenue but the federal authority in budget 2012-13 transferred the same to customs department.
Moreover, the sources said, these sectors are presently running short of raw materials for last three to five months as the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), Appraisement is dilly-dallying in the issuance of tax relief certificates on the imports. When contacted, official sources in MCC, Appraisement, dispelled the impression of unnecessary delay in the issuance of the certificates. They said that the department was striving to eliminate all possible irregularities to be occurred in the process of issuing such certificates.
They said the department had asked the importers of such raw materials allowed in SRO 565 for tax relief to produce their audited import records of past three months to verify the veracity of them. To a question, the official sources said the power relating to SRO 565 was transferred to the customs department as the FBR had received immense complaints of irregularities in this regard.
They said the tax relief certificates were earlier issued by Inland Revenue department for the period of 12 months that provided lucrative opportunities to some unscrupulous elements to exploit the incentive in their favour. Keeping this in view, the department after thorough verification of all related documents is now issuing such certificates only for three months period with the aim to eliminate corruption under the guise of said SRO. On the other hand, the importers termed the restrictions imposed by the MCC, Appraisement as unfriendly for the businesses.
They said although the customs department has all the right to ensure transparency in the process of issuing tax relief certificates, it should be amended to facilitate the genuine taxpayers. Moreover, they said the authority concerned in order to provide maximum relief to the reputed importers should issue these certificates at least with six months validity.