FBR clears Rs22 bn sales tax refunds against 8,415 RPOs

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday cleared Rs22 billion sales tax refunds against 8415 Refund Payment Orders (RPOs), through bonds and adjustments in case of tax liabilities for the period from May 30, 2018 to September 6, 2019.

The cleared refunds were related to exporters as well as non-exporters, however, the major chunk was cleared for non-exporters by the FBR on Wednesday. The FBR has written its field formation to reconcile stuck up claims of refunds of all taxes especially sales tax and income tax. “The IMF wants to ascertain exact amount stuck up in case of sales tax and income tax claimants” said top official sources while talking to The News here on Wednesday night.

In a tweet message by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenues Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh stated on Wednesday that the government (FBR) cleared Rs15.6 billion today in sales tax refunds against 8415 Refund Payment Orders (RPOs) to enhance the liquidity of business & economic activity in the country. This is on top of Rs5.4 billion refunds cleared as bonds and adjustments, he further stated.

The sources explained that the FBR cleared Rs15.6 billion through 8415 RPOs, Rs5.4 billion as bonds and up to Rs1 billion in shape of adjustments for clearance of tax liabilities so the total cleared amount stood at Rs22 billion.

However, the FBR sources said that the FBR did not clear fresh sales tax refunds through its placed new Faster System but today the FBR cleared reconciled amounts to the tune ofRs 15.6 billion where RPOs were issued but the amount was pending with tax authorities.

The last PML-N led regime had cleared sales tax refunds up to May 30, 2018 so all RPOs afterwards were pending. The FBR has cleared all RPOs starting from May 30, 2018 to September 6, 2019, added the sources.

The FBR has also instructed its field formations to send them list of those where the income tax refunds ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs0.5 million were pending before the tax authorities till September 15, 2019 so that the income tax refunds could also be cleared within this ongoing month.

The stuck up claims of refunds and deferred payments are estimated to be around Rs200 billion and it can only be guessed but now the FBR is making efforts to reconcile the figures for sharing with the IMF under $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.