A large number of notices have been issued by the Inland Revenue Department, requisitioning sales tax records from exporters, under Rule 36 of Sales Tax Rules 2006. These pertain to their sales tax refund claims for the month of September, 2004, which were sanctioned and referred to the Inland Revenue Department, Audit Unit, RTO, Karachi, for conducting post-sanction audit.
Exporters have resented the conducting post-sanction audit of sales tax refund claims relating to the year 2004 in April, 2011, saying that this amounts to harassment. Instead of concentrating on expanding exports to meet the targets and earn the much-needed foreign exchange for the country, exporters, perforce, would be diverting their energies in looking for seven-year old record to save from action. "This is an unproductive exercise, indeed," exclaimed one exporter.
Following sales tax record/documents are required to be provided, according to the notices: Monthly sales tax return; Input tax or as the case may be, good declaration for import in respect of which refund is being claimed; Output tax invoices and summary of invoices for local zero-rated goods; Goods declaration for exports; Master bill of lading and airway bill, etc; Inventory/stock statement; Bank statement along with proof of payment and receipts transactions exceeding Rs 50,000 for the period asked for;
Party-wise ledger, showing details of payments made/received during the said tax period; and Utility bills of the same period. In case of non-compliance, or partial compliance, exporters may face "necessary action" under the relevant provisions of the Sales Tax Act 1990, which will be initiated without further correspondence.
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