Pending refund claims of Rs 189 billion have eroded the financial viability of textile export sector. Zafar Iqbal Sarwar, Senior Vice President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) expressed his views on refunds demanding that in order to improve current liquidity and survival of export sector, accrued DLTL, TUFF, deferred sales tax and income tax refunds must be settled immediately.
Pending refund claims of Rs 189 billion have eroded the financial viability of textile export sector. Zafar Iqbal Sarwar, Senior Vice President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) expressed his views on refunds demandingthat in order to improve current liquidity and survival of export sector, accrued DLTL, TUFF, deferred sales tax and income tax refunds must be settled immediately.
He told that textile industry has supported government’s drive to enhance tax collection through documentation and transparency of economy. “Textile industry is convinced to double the export from US$ 13 billion to US$ 25 billion in line with Prime Minister’s vision,” he said and added that facilitation is imperative to achieve this cherished goal. He pointed out three major irritants including sales tax refund, CDC bonds and payment of all other pending refunds which are hindering our exports.
Quoting statistics, of sales tax refunds, he told that Rs 80 billion are regular ST refund claims pertaining to July 2019 to October 2019. Another amount of Rs 10 Billion and yet another Rs 30 billion claims are pending respectively under section 66 (Pending since 2014) and deferred since 2012. About other pending refunds, he told that among these include Rs.15 Billion from the head of Duty Drawback, Rs 19 billion from income tax, Rs.15 Billion from income tax credit and Rs 5 billion from the head of provincial sales tax.
Regarding major hindrances in filling of sales tax claims, he pointed out that FBR has made the procedure of sales tax refund filling so complex that it is impossible for export sector to file the claim and fulfils all the requirements and conditions imposed by FBR coupled with complications and complexity of Annexure-H. He further told that bonds are not guaranteed by Government of Pakistan and do not carry sovereign guarantee.