LAHORE   -  The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and its sub-organs have been creating unfair hurdles and using delaying tactics to clear the billions of rupees’ sales tax refunds of the tractor industry despite the full assurance of the Ministry of Industries and Production and FBR’s high-ups.

According to a Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) press statement issued here on Monday, a high-level delegation of the PAAPAM, comprising Chairman Abdul Rehman Aizaz and the Senior Vice Chairman Abdur Razzaq Gauhar, called on Federal Minister of Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar and Secretary Industries and Production Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar to seek support in this regard. The delegation apprised the minister that tractor manufacturers and their vending industry were inter-connected and if more than Rs 6 billion sales tax refunds, held for the last 18 months by the FBR, were not released on an immediate basis to the tractors industry, the circular effect would choke the tractor industry, including the vending industry. 

The Ministry of Industries & Production (MOIP) also supported the stance of the PAAPAM’s delegation and saw no legal or administrative hindrance to release the sales tax refunds by the FBR. In another meeting with the FBR’s Chief Operations and Refunds Officer Muhammad Abu Bakar Siddique, asked the PAAPAM delegation to contact the Chief Commissioner, Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) Lahore and get the refunds without any delay to avert any crisis in the vending industry.  LTU Lahore Chief Commissioner even did not bother to meet the tractor vending industry’s representative despite repeated requests.

“The post meetings behaviour of the FBR’s LTU officials is contradictory to the considerate attitude of the higher-ups of the FBR and the Ministry of Industries & Production,” observed the PAAPAM chairman.

He said that the tractor vending industry was already operating only on marginal profitability and working hard to supply parts to the tractor   industry aimed at increasing inputs. He said if long outstanding sales tax refunds’ payment was not made immediately to the tractors’ manufacturers, the tractor parts manufacturing vendors will have no option except to close their operations. They have limited financial resources and working capital lines from the banks. PAAPAM chairman appealed to the minister of Finance and Revenue, and FBR chairman to clear the sales tax refunds of the tractor industry on regular basis within the minimum possible time.