LAHORE: Federal Board of Revenue Regional Tax Office-II Lahore has given directions to staff to replicate only partial deferred claims of sales tax refunds from Sales Tax Automated Refund Repository (STARR) e-system.
The department will only settle the postponed refund claims while the regular ST refunds will still remain pending at RTO. The refund cases were increasing day by day due to the negligence of the department that could create chaos in coming days.
Income Tax Practitioner Omer Daraz Sheikh said that taxpayers were facing shortage of funds due to the delay in sales tax refunds by FBR. He highlighted that taxpayers were also waiting for sales tax refund cheques even after the clearance of ST refund after issuance of Refund Payment Order by FBR. He revealed that refund cheques were stopped by Centralized Sales Tax Refund Office (CSTRO).
He also said that RTOs would follow the instructions of high-ups from Islamabad. It might be instructed by FBR to all field offices to stop the clearance of refund cases as almost all sectors like textile, leather, oil were raising voices about the clearance of refund cases. He said that FBR adopted such strategy to overcome the ongoing shortfall in revenue collection for current fiscal year. He urged FBR to issue instructions to all RTOs regarding the clearance of ST refunds.
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