Commercial importers’ under invoicing destroying industry

Commercial importers’ under invoicing destroying industry

KARACHI: Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has said massive under-invoicing especially by commercial importers is destroying domestic industry across the board.

Massive under invoicing and dumping of imported products has been increasing, the PBC said in its proposals for budget 2022/2023 submitted to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

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The council submitted proposals for documenting the economy and providing level playing field for the formal sector.

It further said that information regarding values at which various custom check posts clear import consignments is not publicly available. This encourages unscrupulous importers to under-declare the value of consignments to evade government revenues.

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“Values at which import shipments are cleared through PRAL or CARE need to be publicly available,” the PBC recommended.

The government of Pakistan must insist of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), for both FTA and non-FTA imports from China & other major trading partners China and other major trading partners.

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“In future the requirement of EDI should be made compulsory for imports from FTA / PTA & major trading partner countries.”

The rate of withholding tax on imports for commercial importers should be at least 2 per cent higher than what it currently is and the Withholding tax should be considered as an adjustable advance tax.

Valuation Ruling should be issued in consultation with Brand owners, i.e., who have valid registration of the brands under relevant intellectual property laws.

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