Tax exemption on import of raw materials: Steps taken to check misuse of quotas by units in tribal areas

PESHAWAR: To ensure that raw materials being imported by manufacturing units in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) are used only for in-house consumption to produce finished goods, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other government agencies have introduced a scheme for quota allocation of raw materials on the basis of installed capacities of the units, according to a press release issued here on Sunday.

In the wake of merger of FATA and PATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government had extended the benefit of exemption from collection of income tax on import of raw materials for the manufacturing units located in such areas.

The task of determining the quotas was jointly assigned to the Regional Tax Office (RTO), Peshawar, and the director general of the Input Output Quotient Organisation. Teams were constituted from time to time to determine the production capacities of the units and allot quotas of raw materials to them.

However, on revisiting the quota-related records, it was observed that excess quotas were being availed by the units. Then at the directive of Chief Commissioner of the RTO, Aqeel Ahmed Siddiqui, Commissioner of Corporate Zone Shaukat Hayat and his team identified the main factors responsible for the misuse of quotas and took corrective measures accordingly.

The press release said that as a result of these efforts, steel, ghee, textiles, plastics, etc. to the extent of 143,322 MT, and having approximate market value of Rs11,659.4 million and revenue implications of Rs2,219.62 million, have been disallowed so far since November of 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023