ISLAMABAD: After certain instances of misuse of the track-and-trace system, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has deputed Inland Revenue officials at 33 sugar mills in Punjab to monitor production, sales, and clearance of the commodity.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that some sugar mills were not affixing tax stamps or using used empty bags etc. In other cases, few mills reused the bags which already had stamps.
The officers of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) are posted to monitor the production, sale, and stock position of all taxable goods under section 40B of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, at the manufacturing/business premises. The crushing season of sugar starts in November and ends in March and earlier, the government relied on the industry’s statistics for sugar production. However, after the introduction of the Track and Trace system, the FBR is getting real-time data on the sugar production of each sugar mill.
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The FBR has already suspended the supervisory staff deputed for monitoring at some sugar mills for committing negligence and allowing clearance of sugar bags without affixing stamps under the track and trace system (TTS).
The FBR has deputed special vigilance teams, comprising senior tax officials, to monitor the clearance of the sugar bags from sugar mills to seize such bags, which were cleared without affixation of tax stamps/ unique identification marking (UIMs) under the TTS.
In this connection, the FBR is strictly monitoring the sugar mills to ensure that the tax stamps are affixed before clearance of the sugar from the mill’s premises.
The enforcement wing of the FBR has seized the sugar bags from mills located in Sargodha, Mitthi, and Tando Muhammad Khan.
The FBR has suspended the supervisory staff deputed at the sugar mills for monitoring at Jhang, Badin, Mirpurkhas, and Faisalabad for committing negligence and allowing clearance of sugar bags without affixing stamps of TTS.
The FBR is also seizing the sugar bags from warehouses and premises of dealers, which were cleared without affixation of tax stamps.
Under the counter-tax evasion operation, the FBR’s special vigilance teams would seize sugar bags, which were found without affixation of tax stamps from mills/warehouses.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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