Consignments stuck as Customs online clearance system errs

KARACHI: The clearance of imported consignments came to a sudden halt on Saturday as the online customs clearance system erred in verifying the consignees as active taxpayers, resulting in multimillion daily tax losses and demurrage to traders, sources said.
“Over a thousand containers were stuck at ports due to the system’s error,” an official said. “Besides increasing congestion, this rendered millions of rupees losses in duty and taxes to the FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) and cost businessmen in terms of demurrage.”
Tax officials attributed the halt to the downtime of the online system of the FBR to which online customs clearance system, Web-Based One Customs, is connected.
“Refreshing of active taxpayers list of sales tax at the main FBR system caused the problems,” said an official.
Officials of Pakistan Revenue Automation (Private) Limited, which bolsters the FBR’s information technology system, said they were engaged in resolving the issue.
Customs authorities were caught unaware as they gave various reasons about the sudden change in the computerised system.
Customs clearance system remains open on Saturdays to facilitate traders. Around 60 percent clearance of imported consignments is done on Saturdays.
A day earlier, FBR’s IT wing issued directives to tax offices that the benefit of ATL would only be available to taxpayers who filed income tax returns electronically.
Officer bearers of the Karachi Customs Agents Association (KCAA) complained that goods declaration (GDs) of even those persons, who were on the ATL, was not processed.
“The online system allowed taxpayers to file their GDs on the status of non-filers,” said Khurram Ijaz, General Secretary, KCAA. Many cases, where duty and taxes are applied to non-filers, were denied too, he added.
According to SRO 136(I)/2015 issued on February 13th, the importer as filer of income tax return is eligible for withholding tax rate at six percent and in case of non-filer the rate is nine percent.
Similarly, importers availing exemption under SRO 1125(I)/2011 – belonging to five export-oriented sectors – were also denied the GDs processing.
Later, Member IT said the system was restored late in the evening.