Tax filers face system glitches

KARACHI: The Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to fix the technical glitches that have hampered the filing of sales tax returns by its members for the last three months.

In a letter to FBR Chairman Malik Amjad Zubair Tiwana, KCCI President Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh said that many filers were unable to report their supplies due to a restriction that only allows items with HS codes imported or purchased within the last 12 months to be included in the returns.

Sheikh said that this restriction, which was introduced last year through Sales Tax General Order (STGO) 13 of 2022, had been working well until recently, but now it was causing problems for filers who had legally imported items with valid HS codes and GDs, but the system rejected them as non-existent.

He asked the FBR to rectify this issue as soon as possible and to waive any penalties for late filing due to this error. He also warned that if any filer failed to file four consecutive returns, they could face the risk of being blacklisted.