Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation (DGI&I) of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Karachi has detected tax discrepancies to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, approximately in the ledgers of 213 registered units. According to sources, the action was taken on a tip-off, which revealed that these companies were involved in issuance of fake invoices and its output were being used for claiming refund or input tax adjustment by other registered persons.
As per registration record of sales tax department, these companies got sales tax registrations and hold the category of importer/exporter/wholesaler. However, the department had not found physical existence of these companies after inquiry. They said the suppliers of the said companies in response to the letters of the department denied to have supplied any goods to them and added that operators of those fake units were also involved in filing monthly sales tax returns of some other fake companies.
Moreover, they said those companies by claiming inadmissible input tax through fake and fraudulent sales tax returns, fake bank account and fake sales tax invoices had deprived the national exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, approximately.
They said the DGI&I in its challans submitted in Custom Court had so far nominated some 213 companies and six Inland Revenue officers over the charge of their alleged involvement in this multibillion fake sales tax refund fraud. They said those units were also asked to give evidences and produce documents pertaining to the sales tax refund claims but they have failed to produce the same hence the names of these units along with the said Inland Revenue officers were included in the challans. They said those registered units had showed taxable sales and refunded billions of rupees sales tax from national exchequer.
They said the department was going to finalise the inquiry of some 3,500 units in this scam and those units with the connivance of sales tax officers had fabricated this tax fraud. Furthermore, the sources anticipated the amount involved in this scam would cross the mark of Rs 10 billion and more challans in this regard are going to be finalised, soon.