20000310

Textile exporters

complain of harassment

by tax men

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Council of Textile Associations (CIA) has accused sales tax officials of harassment by seeking irrelevant information about trivial matters.

In fax messages sent to Minister of Finance, Shaukat Aziz, Minister of Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, and the CBR Chairman, the Convenor of CTA, S.M.A. RizvI said that the exporters had been asked by the Collector of Sales Tax West to submit data about their suppliers; give reasons for decline in their output tax and submit delivery orders with invoices to claim refund.

He said that the actions of the Collectorate were contrary to pronouncements of the Chief Executive and the Chairman of National Reconstruction Bureau that the taxation laws were being simplified and that the Government wanted to facilitate the businessmen, and not harass them.

Rizvi wrote that the government functionaries were making tax issues more complex by issuing such notices to exporters which, he said, were difficult to comply with, and were causing loss of production besides raising cost in the shape of extra time and money required to reply to these objections.

Rizvi complained that a new procedure had been imposed on the exporters for the refund of sales tax on exports. The Collectorate of Sales Tax, West, had issued notices to the exporters asking them to provide data regarding their suppliers of input goods., both registered and un-registered.

He said that this information was already available in the Sales Tax invoices submitted for sales tax refund. The exporters saw no reason to duplicate such a tedious task, He feared that in preparing the information on the prescribed proforma, discrepancy between the proforma and original tax invoices, the exporters would subject to penalties.

Rizvi pointed out that in a meeting at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) it was agreed that information regarding un-registered suppliers would be obtained by the sales tax authorities themselves. He asked why this job was being given to the exporters.

With regard to another notice issued by the collectorate asking exporters to give reasons for decline in their output tax during the current year, the CTA convenor said that the collector should know that the exports were zero rated and they paid negligible output tax on wastages, left over etc., which could be due to quantity of yarn, labour or machine fault and the reasons could not be defined.

He recalled that the order for submission of copies of Delivery Orders was issued a few years ago, and was withdrawn because many exporters got their products manufactured outside the factories both in Karachi and upcountry.

Rizvi urged the authorities to investigate the matter and find out the real reason behind the "impossible and unjustified" demands of the Sales Tax Collector, West.

"The exporters should be allowed to work on exports instead of attending to inquires about the maters which really do not matter", he wrote.