The Provincial Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department has modernised its tax collection procedure to enhance the tax recovery and facilitate taxpayers. The department has modified the procedure for collection of Infrastructure Cess through computer generated challans issued by Pakistan Revenue Automation (Pvt) Ltd with the co-operation of Customs Department. The procedure had been introduced at Air Freight Unit (AFU), Karachi Airport, since April 23. According to Excise department sources, this facility had been introduced to assist importers/clearing agents in swift clearance of their goods.
Now computer generated challans would be issued from the counter in the Cash Section of Custom Department at AFU that could be paid in the adjacent booth of National Bank of Pakistan, Karachi Airport. The duplicate copy of the paid challan would then be handed over to Excise & Taxation Department staff at AFU gate for clearance of goods.
This procedure was also introduced at Karachi Port on September 6, 2003 and at Port Qasim on March 15, 2004, which not only facilitated the importers/clearing agents in the quick clearance of their goods but also resulted in additional revenue due to elimination of tax evasions.
With the introduction of this modified procedure, the collection of Infrastructure Cess had increased by Rs748 million during 2003-2004 as compared to previous financial year.
The Excise & Taxation Department had collected Rs3.249 billion Infrastructure Cess upto March 31, which was Rs926 million more than the previous year's recovery during this period.