The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday again extended the deadline for disposal of pending sales tax refund payments from December 31, 2010 to March 31, 2011. The board, which had earlier rearranged the deadline from November 30, 2010 to December 31, 2010, has now again given three more months to its field formations to flush out all pending sales tax refund payments, which are said to be hovering at Rs 200 billion.
According to sources, the decision, which was made after strong resistance shown by field formation on the deadline of December 31, 2010, might not produce fruit. As the board in this regard has now empowered only the commissionerate of enforcement & collection Division I of each tax office to disburse the said payments on behalf of its respective Collectorate. For the purpose, the board has now directed all tax offices to constitute a team, which would be led by the commissioner enforcement & collection Division I. The team, which would disburse pending refund payments, comprises Additional commissioner, 10 deputy commissioners and 20 auditors.
When contacted, an officer in Karachi Regional Tax Office (RTO) confirmed that the board has made said amendments and ordered the Karachi RTO to flush out its all pending sales tax refunds, amounting to Rs 10 billion, within three months.
Replying to a question, he expressed concern over the decision of empowering the commissionerate enforcement & collection Division I of each tax office to disburse refund payments, saying that the said decision would not only create room for corruption but would also cause delay in this process.