MULTAN: First time in the history of Model Customs Collectorate Multan, Collector Sarfraz Warraich and his team detected the largest tax evasion of Rs 770 million by Q-Mobile company, the biggest seller of handsets imported from China.
Multan Customs Anti-Smuggling Organisation (ASO) detained handsets of Q-mobile on July 11, 2014 which were being transported from Karachi to Multan through Business Express cargo train. The total number of smart phones detained are said to be 5001 imported by New Allied Electronics and Masses Digicom Limited from China.
Both the companies’ representatives came to the Customs House for clearance of their handsets by submitting documents of their detained handsets. After which the customs started verification of their smartphones through documents and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a digit code that uniquely identifies mobile phone sets.
During the verification, Customs authorities found that above-mentioned companies had paid less customs duty on the smartphones. Customs charges duty in three different tariffs according to the range of handset: Rs 150, Rs 250 and Rs 500 on low price, medium price and smart phone handsets respectively.
The authorities realised that the duty of smartphones was Rs 500 per handset, but these companies paid only Rs 250 per handset for clearing their consignments. They have allegedly evaded tax of Rs 770 million during clearance of their previous consignments.
Model Customs Collector Multan has detected the highest tax evasion in the history of Multan customs by Q-Mobile.
Talking to Customs Today, Multan Customs Collector Muhammad Sarfraz Warraich said that this was made possible only by the anti-smuggling and anti-tax evasion operations of his staff.
He said that verification was difficult due to bulk quantities but his staff assisted him a lot during the verification process.
Meanwhile, an FIR has been lodged against the companies and the challan has been sent to the Adjudication-1, Multan for further proceedings.
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