Chairman, Pakistan Apparel Forum, Muhammad Jawed Bilwani hailed the Government and the Federal Finance Minister for keeping their promise to clear all pending sales tax refunds whose RPOs up to the value of rupees 1 million have been sanctioned by April 30, 2017. He said that following payment of stuck-up Sales Tax refund to the exporters, exports are likely to pick up as it would make the liquidity position of exporters better who would be able to make prompt shipments.

He requested the Government particularly the Federal Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar that instead of waiting for the date 14th August, 2017 to clear the remaining pending sales tax refunds whose RPOs (value more than Rs 1 million) have been sanctioned by 30th April, 2017, the payments should be made to the exporters at earliest so that businessmen can plan their investments in balancing, modernization and replacement (BMR). This will give a good impression to foreign buyers. He informed that of Rs 180 billion PM Export Package, only Rs 3 billion were released so far to exporters under Duty Drawback of Taxes (DDT) Claims.

Bilwani said that further DDT claims worth Rs 5.9 billion has been processed and finalized to release at the level of SBP but that were lying pending as the Finance Ministry has to transfer the said funds to SBP for onwards release to the exporters whose claims have matured. Therefore, he earnestly requested the Federal Finance Minister to also release funds for payments under DDT Claims. He expressed hope that the sales tax refund as well as Custom Rebate and Duty drawback of Taxes refunds will all be paid in time and there should no delay in future.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017