ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has restricted entry of unauthorized persons, including privately hired persons by customs officials (lappoos), into Customs House with immediate effect.
In a statement, Pakistan Customs said that FBR Chairman Syed Shabbar Zaidi ordered the ban on entry of unauthorized persons into customs houses in order to ensure transparency in clearance system.
The FBR chairman while taking notice of presence of large number of visitors for making the entire clearance system doubtful, ordered the Customs Wing to strictly restrict, entry into Customs Houses, only to the concerned traders, their authorized representatives and members and relevant trade bodies/associations.
FBR Chairman while talking to a TV channel said that purpose of this ban on unauthorised persons is to ensure least interaction between the taxpayer and the tax authorities.
Accordingly, Customs Wing has issued instructions to its field formations for immediately restricting entry of all un-authorized persons, the statement said.
The visiting hours for traders and their authorized representatives for fulfillment of needed legal formalities in cases involving second review before assistant/deputy collectors shall be limited from 10:00am to 1:00pm.
Pakistan Customs is operating its Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) system in order to facilitate the trade and provide ease of doing business in carrying out imports, exports and transit trade.
This system is available 24/7 and allows online submission and processing of documents as well as electronic payments of duty and taxes.
As such the need for traders and their representatives to physically visit offices of Customs has drastically been reduced.
