Refund claims of commercial exporters will be sent to the Collectorate of Customs (Export) and shipping companies for verification of shipments before making payment. This was stated by Towel Manufacturers Association (TMA) Chairman Feroze Alam Lari on Monday.
He said the Additional Collector Sales Tax informed him during a meeting that all refund claims would be sent to the Collectorate of Customs (Export) for verification to ensure that shipments have been made by the claimant.
Lari said the Collectorate has sought proof of shipment despite the fact that the exporters have submitted bank credit advice (BCA), a proof of remittance of export proceeds along with the refund application.
The TMA chief said the payment of refund of commercial exporters and manufacturers-cum-exporters had been stopped since July this year due to various reasons. The exporters-cum-manufacturers were advised to consume their stocks by September 30. Those who have utilised stocks have been told to get their stocks audited.
Lari said the towel exporters were facing severe liquidity problem due to non-payment of refund, which amounts to millions of rupees. On average, an exporter owes Rs 40 million to Rs 50 million to the Collectorate in sales tax refund.
He said the refund claims of some of the towel exporters have been lying pending since 2002 and instead of making payment the Collectorate is sending these to the customs for verification.
Lari called on Collector of Customs (Export) Muhammad Nisar on Saturday who assured him that any refund claims sent for verification would be cleared the same day.