Staff Reporter
Islamabad
President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Muhammad Ahmed Waheed has called upon the FBR to allow business community to adjust their payable taxes against their refunds claims that would greatly facilitate them in overcoming liquidity issues and promoting business activities.
In a statement on Monday, he said that billions of rupees of business community were held up with FBR in the form of refunds claims of sales tax, income tax and duty drawbacks and allowing adjustment of payable taxes including customs duties and sales tax against refunds claims would be a win-win arrangement, both for the government and for the business community.
It would address the liquidity issues of businessmen and save the funds of government allocated for payment of refunds. He said that allowing adjustment of payable taxes against refunds would also help businesses in improving inventories and promoting exports.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that FBR was reportedly preparing to start the payment of income tax refunds directly to the bank accounts of those taxpayers who have provided their IBAN, which was appreciable as these refunds were held up with FBR since 2014. However, he said that allowing businesses to adjust their payable taxes against these refunds would be a win-win situation for both sides.
ICCI President said that finance division has reportedly released an amount of Rs.10 billion to FBR for payment of income tax refunds while FBR was issuing cumulative refunds of up to Rs.5 million. However, he stressed that Ministry of Finance should release more funds to FBR to clear maximum income tax refunds that would improve the liquidity position of businesses and enable them to play better role in the economic revival of the country.
