Lacking tax stamps: FBR raids sugar mill in Hyderabad, seizes 172 sugar bags

ISLAMABAD: After installing the Track and Trace System at 78 sugar mills all over the country, the FBR has raided the premises of one warehouse of a sugar mill located in Hyderabad and seized 172 bags, having 50 kg sugar in each bag, without tax stamps on them.

“This electronic system will help the FBR to curb tax evasion in a big way,” Tariq Sheikh, FBR’s Project Director for Track and Trace System, told The News on Sunday. He said the FBR seized 172 bags of sugar having no tax stamp on them, proving that no tax was paid on these sugar bags.

The FBR’s official announcement here on Sunday stated that Inland Revenue Enforcement Network (IREN) Squad of Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation (I&I)-IR, Hyderabad, in a major counter tax evasion operation, seized 172 sugar bags, which were found without affixation of tax stamps in one warehouse.

The team of Directorate of I&I (IR), Hyderabad, visited the area of Tower Market on November 27, 2021 to check sugar dealers. The IREN team visited 12 warehouses and checked stock of sugar bags manufactured by various sugar mills during the crushing season 2021-22.

The team found sugar bags manufactured by three sugar mills, including M/s Chambar Sugar Mills, stocked in premises of afore-stated dealers. The sugar bags manufactured by two sugar mills were found affixed with tax stamps.

However, the stock of 172 sugar bags manufactured by one sugar mill Chambar Sugar Mills lying on the premises of M/s Gulzar & Co, Hyderabad, were found without tax stamps. The team seized the stock of 172 sugar bags and initiated legal action against Chambar Sugar Mill and the dealer in accordance with the relevant provisions of law.