LAHORE: To checking the rising number of fraudulent sales tax refund claimants, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to verify export data of all cases pertaining to sales tax refunds involving huge amounts from Afghanistan customs authorities.
The FBR has approached the Pakistani Consulate General in Jalalabad to verify export data from Afghan customs authorities to frame strong cases against fraudulent sales tax refund claimants on fake exports from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
The board suspects that the declared goods might have not reached actual destinations in Afghanistan and has decided to duly verify the revenant data irrespective of past track of exporters which will cover each and every case where huge amount of sales tax refunds has been claimed on goods exported to Afghanistan during the last two years.
Through the data verification, it will be determined whether goods were actually entered Afghanistan and all information including Goods Declarations (GDs) numbers, quantity and description of goods will be provided to Afghan customs authorities.
The Regional Tax Office (RTO) Lahore Chief Commissioner took the initiative to verify all exports from Lahore to Afghanistan to ascertain whether the goods entered Customs Stations in Afghanistan during the period of 2012 and 2013. The step has been taken after reports that the goods exported to Afghanistan on which huge sales tax refunds are involved do not actually reached or entered the Customs Stations in Afghanistan.
The RTO has also requested the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad Afghanistan to seek verification from the Afghan customs authorities regarding the data of exports claimed to have been made by the Pakistani to their Afghan counterpart. Subsequently, the Counsel General Jalalabad has asked the Pakistani tax authorities to provide further details regarding such exports. The regional tax authorities have provided necessary data to the FBR for onward submission to the Counsel General Jalalabad.
