Sales tax refund promises annoy value added textile industry

Sales tax refund promises annoy value added textile industry

KARACHI: The value added textile industry has expressed its displeasure over government’s repeated promises of clearing sales tax refunds.

The government made promises for the past several months to clearing pending sales tax refunds but failed to honor, said Jawed Bilwani, Chief Coordinator of the Value Added Textile Export Sector said on Tuesday in a joint press conference at Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) House.

He said that the value added industry was facing serious liquidity problems due to stuck up refunds.

The prime minister assured the business community to resolve the issue of refunds completely through a new mechanism. Besides, Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue and Syed Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) also promised the refunds would be issued when exporters would file their goods declarations.

Instead tall claims the situation has further aggravated, Bilwani said.

He said that around 40 percent of the industry was facing immense liquidity problems. “This resulted in closure of factories,” he added.

For the past pending sales tax refunds, the government issued bonds, which were never encahsed, he said.

For the past four months the government was repeatedly assuring to resolve the issue, he said, adding that nothing was done in this regard.

He said that on the one side the government was endeavoring to increase the exports but on the other side it was silent on the issue of refunds.