LAHORE: Imran Mohmand, Director General Customs Automation, has urged the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) member mills to switch on the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) modules and suggest changes to improve it further.
He was speaking to the representatives from the APTMA member mills during a training workshop on indirect export module of the EFS and other system-related aspects at APTMA Lahore office.
Tahir Abbas, Additional Director Reforms & Automation, along with his technical team, also accompanied him on the occasion.
Senior Vice Chairman APTMA Kamran Arshad, Vice Chairman Asad Shafi, and Secretary General APTMA North Zone welcomed the guests.
The DG said that the objective of the workshop is to educate exporters on salient features of modules.
He said indirect exports are major component of the EFS and a mechanism for the transfer of raw materials and semi-and-fully-finished goods, including local sales, has been deployed in the scheme.
He said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has developed the pending modules of EFS, especially Indirect Export Module, transfer of inputs and intermediary goods. These modules have either been deployed or under trial operations at present, he added.
Responding to a query, he said a separate module for the zero-rated local purchases will be introduced within the timeline.
He asked the APTMA member mills to put forward all the suggestions for improvement in the modules to Secretary General APTMA. Meanwhile, he urged the APTMA members to start utilizing the modules and forward all the constructive suggestions to the department for further changes. It will be followed by another interactive session in early December, he added.
On a query about the e-commerce via B2C sales through courier services, he said a module already exists in the WeBoc and changes are being incorporated to entertain export rebate claims. However, no provision relating to retrospective sales is yet available in the system and the member mills will have to contact their Collectorates for all such sales.
He further made clear that no provision is available in the EFS regarding integration of the EFS with sales tax returns. However, he assured of processing it by the concerned team to improve the EFS.
Regarding the linking up of the EFS with the income tax and sales tax systems, he said the APTMA members should take it with concerned departments while keeping the automation department in the loop.
Tahir Abbas, Additional Director Reforms & Automation, Karachi said the objective of the automation of business practices is to ensure ease and cut down the cost of doing business. He said all the exports-related schemes have been unified in the shape of EFS.
According to him, the licenses for imports and exports have been automated and some 7000 declarations have been processed so far.
A technical team of Pakistan Customs Karachi made software demonstrations to apprise the participants about the transfer mechanism on the occasion.
Senior Vice Chairman APTMA Kamran Arshad appreciated the patience on the part of the FBR team for responding their queries.
He expressed the hope that bilateral cooperation would continue in future as well to make the scheme error-free and user-friendly in line with the requirements of the textile exporters.
In the end, Asad Shafi, Vice Chairman extended vote of thanks to the FBR team for apprising the APTMA member mills on the scheme.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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