LAHORE: Federal Board of Revenue Chairman reiterated the FBR commitment to facilitating the textile exporters and assured the exporters of swift removal of bottlenecks and expediting payments of customs rebates and sales tax refunds.
Talking to the media after a meeting with FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Chairman Sheikh Ilyas Mahmood said that the PTEA delegation apprised the board chairman of problems being confronted by textile exporters. The delegation informed that 30 to 35 percent of the working capital of textile exporters had been stuck in sales tax, customs rebate and federal excise duty refund regimes which had caused severe liquidity crunch, adding that the release of refund claims would enable the exporters expanding their businesses, leading to more earnings for the country.
The PTEA chairman said that the FBR chairman had assured that all Regional Tax Offices would be directed to speed up the process of refund claims. Sheikh Ilyas claimed that he had informed the board chairman about the impending recovery notices to exporters by the tax department recovery on account of refunds received against the supplies of black listed suppliers.
He said that recovery notices threatening recovery of the refunded amounts were creating uncertainty and unrest among exporters as goods purchased from that suppliers were duly exported and refund was sanctioned after thorough scrutiny of the refund claim. To which the FBR chief assured the exporters to direct quarters concerned to withdraw such notices. Accepting the demand of textile exporters, the FBR chief agreed to increase the refund ratio on use of alternate fuels in processing of exportable goods.
