ISLAMABAD: Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has urged the chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to clear outstanding refunds of Rs 80 billion of its members.

In a letter to Chairman FBR, Asim Ahmad, Secretary General/CE OICCI, Abdul Aleem has cited the reference of his earlier letter of August 12, 2022 in which he raised the issue of refunds.

He has once again shared an updated list of outstanding Income and Sales tax refunds claims of OICCI members.

“We firmly believe that tax refunds should be an ongoing process so as to avoid liquidity issues of our members who continue to pay huge tax on their ongoing business activities,” said Aleem.

OICCI urges FBR to simplify tax system

According to OICCI, pending Income/Sales tax refunds of OICCI members as of October 2022, amounted to over Rs 80 billion, comprising of Rs 43 billion Income tax and Rs 37 billion sales tax outstanding refunds.

“Overall, we observe that the Government/FBR has not settled the pending tax refunds of foreign investors which are piling month after month and sending negative signals to the headquarters of leading Multi-National Companies (MNC’s) who are on the one hand affected due to virtual stoppage of dividend and other forex remittance for most part of 2022 due to critical Foreign Exchange situation besides being affected by over 30% devaluation of the currency to date,” Aleem added.

OICCI maintains that positive perception of a country plays a critical role in attracting FDI in the country, which includes predictable, transparent and consistent policy framework and its implementation in all matters including tax refunds.

OICCI has also invited the chairman FBR for a meeting with its members at a mutually convenient date.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022