FBR installs track, trace system in sugar mills

ISLAMABAD: Against the backdrop of the new crushing season, the FBR has placed a Track and Trace System on all 78 sugar mills across the country to ensure electronic stamps on all produced sugar bags to gauge the real production of this tax evading sector.

It is generally believed that the sugar sector evades taxes to the range of 20 to 25 percent and the deployment of Track and Trace System will help the FBR to gauge the real production of every sugar mill. If the product is gauged accurately, it will also help collect the genuine tax amounts. The sugar mills are supposed to pay 76 paisa on 50 kg or 25 kg sugar bags to the selected consortium of FBR notified through Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO).“We have placed the Track and Trace System on all 100 percent (78 sugar mills) across the country and this step will go a long way for getting genuine sales tax amount on the production of sugar mills,” top FBR official sources confirmed to The News here on Monday.

The FBR had already placed the Track and Trace System on one plant of Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) last month. The FBR diverted its all-out focus towards the sugar sector to gauge its production from the start of the new crushing season. The FBR had to quickly import required equipment and the Customs authorities cleared it, so all necessary arrangements could be put in place on all sugar mills within the stipulated time frame. The afffixation of tax stamps on sugar bags has been made mandatory before they could be removed for sale.

Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the Track and Trace System for the sugar sector in the third week of the ongoing month. The FBR has also decided to bring the cement and fertilizer sectors under the Track and Trace System from the next calendar year either from January 2022 or February 2022. Both the sectors would be brought under the ambit of Track and Trace System simultaneously.