MULTAN: Collector Customs Collectorate Ambreen Tarar assured business community for the resolution of road Cess relating to the clearance of goods as soon as possible.
Addressing the businessmen Collector Ambreen Tarar on her visit to Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that is wide of the mark opinion from business community that clearance of import and export shipment bear fewer cost from Karachi and it gains more benefits in clearance from Karachi instead of Multan.
Multan Dry Port is not charging any additional taxes to importers for clearance of their shipments because duty and taxes collected from Multan and Karachi are uniform. Multan Dry Port also offers similar clearance facilities of Karachi on the clearance of shipment and if businessmen have any issue regarding clearance then they must inform about it for its way out.
Several issues will be resolved regarding the import and export shipments after the installation of tracking system on transshipment vehicles and we have tax revision facility available in the WeBOC system in case of any mistake.
Collector Ambreen assured speedy customs clearance of shipments at the Multan Dry port to facilitate business community of South Punjab .He told that Sadiqabad Port has been established and trustees are responsible for the provision of necessary facilities in order to mange port. Customs department is not bound to spend funding on newly established Dry Port of Sadiqabad.
Infrastructure Development Cess is provincial matter and cost of business has been expanded for importers and exporters in the region after its imposition.The Model of Customs Collectorate Multan is making efforts to resolve issue of Infrastructure Development cess for expeditious clearance of shipments from Multan Dry Port . Few importers have contacted to courts regrading Infrastructure Development cess and they have taken short term relief
Assistant Collector Muhammad Ikram informed business community that they can pay online taxes from their home in the account of Collector for the clearance of consignment without any hurdle. Collector assured office bearers of MCCI that we will take up this issue with Federal Board of Revenue for its resolution.
It is pertinent to mention that Government of Punjab has imposed 0.9 % Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess on the import consignment and it is collecting Infrastructure Development Cess on all import consignments since 20th May of the 2016.
Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has urged the Customs Collectorate to withdraw the Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess on import as it amounts to dual taxation and causes distress among business community. President MCCI Malik Israr Ahmad said that imposition of cess is discriminatory and will further burden existing taxpayers instead of broadening the tax net.
He revealed that after the imposition of infrastructure development cess, businessmen were getting their consignments cleared in other provinces in order to avoid the tax. “They called the infrastructure cess an indirect tax because it was being charged on the movement of goods including raw material cleared at the dry ports of Punjab and was proving to be an impediment to economic growth of the province. They believed that the cess would also give an impression that business atmosphere in Punjab was not favorable.
