LAHORE: Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has directed Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to expedite the auction of a substantial number of non-cleared stranded vehicles at Karachi Port, which were imported in violation of SRO issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
The subject vehicles were imported under Personal Baggage, Transfer of Residence, or under Gift Schemes.
Federal Tax Ombudsman’s own motion decision states that failure to timely arranging an auction of vehicles lying un-cleared prima facie is a systemic issue of maladministration, and it appears that FBR had failed to put in place a system whereby vehicles cleared from the port are not timely listed in the Auction Schedule.
Delay in the auction would make most of these vehicles unserviceable due to rusting of bodies, running down of tires and batteries, pilferage of parts, etc., creating congestion at Ports.
After the initiation of the Own Motion investigation, the concerned department auctioned one hundred sixty-seven (167) vehicles and pursued the verification of the Proceed Realization Certificate (PRC).
FBR had recently devised a new “online bidding procedure” to purchase goods digitally from the Customs Department.
However, it has not yet been implemented due to the E-Auction module being under development. In this regard, Federal Tax Ombudsman has recommended FBR to ensure the examining of the proposal of developing an E-Auction module under the WeBOC software to expedite disposal of un-cleared consignments.
FBR has been further recommended to ensure the implementation of the E-Auction Rules notified vide SRO 1174(I)/2020 dated 26.10.2020.
