Out of the total defaulters of taxes, notified by the Sales Tax Department in its list, only 10 percent are considered actual defaulters, sources in the Collectorate of Sales Tax and Federal Excise said on Saturday.
They said that about 90 percent of the total defaulters in the list, issued by the department, were placed in the list owing to audit complications in Sales Tax Act 1990. The department has issued list of 1,160 firms, declaring them defaulters of Rs 6.2 billion of taxes.
"Although Rs 6.2 billion is still debited in sales tax collection account, it does not mean that all 1,160 persons in the list are defaulters", they said. When asked why the department had issued list before final assessment, which caused damage to the name of companies, they argued that evaluation of unpaid taxes had been done but as per the Sales Tax Act before clearing any company, thorough audit of all its suppliers was conducted.
According to the Sales Tax Act provision, transactions of a company done through a bank, was considered a fine taxpayer. If any supplier of the company were found involved in evasion of taxes during the audit, the company would be declared "defaulter."