ISLAMABAD: By December 31, 2017, the new e-payment system for collection of duties and taxes will replace the manual paper based payment system which is costly and time consuming for both traders and the government.
Under the Facilitation Trade Agreement, Pakistan has committed itself to establish the e-payment system for collection of duties and taxes by June 2018.
This was stated by the officials of the Federal Board of Revenue to the correspondent of Customs Today.
A meeting was held at the Directorate of Reforms and Automation (Customs) Karachi on December 11, FY17-18 where it was discussed that e-payment system will provide round-the-clock facility to the taxpayers for the payment of duties, taxes and other dues accruing out of clearance of goods through customs computerized system by using the online banking.
It was also told to the customs officials participated in the meeting that all the commercial banks will be authorized by The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to show collection of customs as biller in its online payment portal developed by M/s 1-Link or any other payment service provider (PSP) approved by the SBP.
The sources told CT that for avoiding e-payment, the Pakistan Customs Computerized System shall issue a unique payment slip ID (PSID) to the taxpayer against which the legal liabilities shall be discharged through online payment portal of the authorized bank in the manners prescribed by the SBP duly approved by the border upon receipt of duties, taxes and other dues.
Sources added that the SBP or the designated bank shall issue computerized receipt (CPR) to the taxpayer through Customs Computerized System mentioning the details of payment made.
Regarding the dispute resolution, the sources told correspondent that, in case any dispute arises on the topic of e-payment, the Payment Service Provider (PSP) shall resolve the issue within three weeks of its reporting. Sources added that an MoU was signed between the FBR and SBP and its PSP M/s 1-Link Guarantee Ltd for development of e-payment system for online customs duties and other dues on 3rd October 2017.
