MEETING OF CHIEF COMMISSIONER, RTO, FAISALABAD WITH PAKISTAN TEXTILE EXPORTERS ASSOCIATION, FAISALABAD
A meeting was held by the Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, Regional Tax Office (RTO), Faisalabad with Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, Faisalabad (PTEA) on 04-02-2014 in their premises situated at Civil Lines, PTEA Road, Faisalabad. Following participated:
|
Sr. No |
RTO Faisalabad |
PTEA |
|
1 |
Mr. Shaukat Mahmood, CCIR |
Sheikh Ilyas Mahmood, Chairman, PTEA |
|
2 |
Dr. Tariq Mahmood Khan, CIR |
Members of PTEA, Faisalabad |
2. The meeting started with recitation from Holy Quran. The Chairman, PTEA gave a welcome address and mainly stated that PTEA is the largest representative of textile exporters of the country and the members of PTEA are contributing about Rs.4 billion through exports of textile goods. Following issues were also highlighted:-
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Refunds of Income Tax, Sales Tax and duty drawback cases of Federal Excise Duty are not being processed and unnecessary delay in sanctioning of these refund claims is creating hardships for the textile exporters. Refund claims relating to 2006 are still pending. Regular refund claims of sales tax may be processed without delay.
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As a result of judgments in appeals, refund claims are being filed under section 66 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990. These claims as well as deferred claims are pending since many years and the same may be processed at the earliest.
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Refund Payment Orders of refund claims processed by ERS and RTO are being rolled back without any intimation to the refund claimants and during re-processing the status of these claims is changed to “Deferred” or “Withheld”. Sales Tax refund cheques are not being issued for total amount and remaining amounts are being withheld without any reason.
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Blacklisting of suppliers is a major problem for the exporters and they are also facing financial loss on this account. In order to avoid problems in sales tax refund processing, a proposal has already been made to authorize the exporters for payment of 2% sales tax into government treasury on behalf of their suppliers.
3. The Chief Commissioner in his address to the Chairman and Members of PTEA expressed his confidence on the members of the PTEA who work together with the FBR in achieving one ultimate goal i.e prosperity of our country. It was further stated that:-
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The textile sector had remained an important pillar of fiscal growth. It constitutes about 4% of the total size of the economy.
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It was also suggested that if we sharpen the skills of cheap labor with technical education and solve the issues of availability of quality raw cotton by creating a win-win situation, for farmers / industrialists, the textile sector can do wonders.
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The need to increase lower tax to GDP ratio was also emphasized to bring the fiscal deficit down and restore a measure of fiscal sustainability.
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A sustainable energy is of vital importance to this sector.
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Since PTEA represent the major business community, therefore their cooperation was also sought in broadening the tax net base.
4. The Chief Commissioner reiterated to look into the solution of the outstanding pending issues such as: delay in sanctioning of Sales Tax, Income Tax and Federal Excise Duty refund claims, pendency of refund claims filed under section 66 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 and blacklisting of registered persons.
5. Thereafter, the Chief Commissioner and his team answered to the questions put forth by the honourable members of the PTEA and asked them to attend their office in person where specific issues were raised. The meeting ended with the vote of thanks from each other.
