The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for providing online access to the data of E-forms submitted by the exporters to ensure clearance of goods on genuine/admissible forms. FBR Member Customs Nisar Muhammad told Public Accounts Committee (PAC) here on Tuesday that for the first time in the history of FBR, online verification of the E-forms would be possible by the customs officials. In this regard, a MoU would be signed between the SBP and the FBR.
The information of the E-forms would be available on real time basis to the customs officials under the new system, he said. Through this process, the FBR will be in a position to verify each and every E-form promptly with the help of the SBP, Member Customs added. The issue of the E-forms came to the light when audit officers of the Auditor General of Pakistan pointed out a case where consignments were cleared on fake E-forms. FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa responded that the E-forms have been issued by the SBP. In the case of 2009, the FBR itself detected the case and took necessary action against the exporters.
Under government policy, the FBR has to facilitate the exports, but we have imposed three times penalty on the exporters using fake E-forms, FBR Chairman said. Responding to this, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Chairman PAC stated that tax facilitation and encouragement should not be done at the cost of tax department.