ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has directed the CNG station owners to approach the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for refund of input tax.
The apex court issued the directive while dismissing 30 identical petitions challenging vires of Section 3 (8) of the Sales Tax Act 1990 as incorporated by the Ordinance of 2014.
A three-member bench led by Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh, comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan had reserved the judgement on June 2, 2016 in response to CNG stations’ appeals filed against Sindh High Court judgement of October 06, 2015 in the matter.
Appearing before the court on behalf of the FBR, Hafiz Ahsan Ahmed Khokar has contended that levy of sales tax was legally imposed which is sustainable in the law, adding, after collection of the levy a substantial amount of Rs 375 million would be deposited in the national kitty.
The appellants contended that the formula for conversion of Natural Gas into CNG employed by the respondents (Federation of Pakistan through Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources, and others), for levy of Sales Tax was illegal and not sustainable in law, the imposition of General Sales Tax was void ab initio and that Gas Infrastructure Development Cess was liable to be excluded for purpose of the Sales Tax liability of the appellants.
