The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman has shown displeasure over the unnecessary delay in the issuance of sales tax refund. Sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday that the last board-in-council, during its meeting, had issued instructions to FBR Member Sales Tax to ensure clearance of pending claims at the level of collectorates.
It has also been decided that FBR Members must obtain required documents from the taxpayers to liquidate pending refund claims. Sources said that the board has paid a total of Rs 45.096 billion as refund and rebate to exporters during first eight months (July-February) of 2007-08 against Rs 58.697 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal year, showing a decrease of 23.2 percent.
During July-February 2007-08, sales tax refund stood at Rs 18.66 billion, against Rs 27.2 billion, reflecting a decrease of 31.4 percent. Sales tax refund at the import stage was Rs 66 million, whereas refund pertaining to domestic consumption was Rs 18.60 billion.
Sources said that the overall pending refund claims have increased zero-rating of five major export sectors. It has been observed that pending claims of 2006-07 amounting nearly Rs 7 billion concerning oil gas and energy sectors have been liquidated during first half of 2007-08.
To achieve the overall GST target, the shortfall in domestic collection during July-December 2007-08 will have to be compensated during the next six months. This demands for adoption of a multi-pronged strategy with monitoring of refund claims to avoid superfluous payments, extra enforcement effort to collect due taxes, especially from those sectors that appear to have murky track record, and a co-ordinated audit approach to deal with delinquencies, sources added.