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vol 2 issue no. 14
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karachi, Tue April 22 - Mon April 28, 2014
Regd. no, MC-1381
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MeeTingTARgeT
I shall sit at FBR House myself to run the revenue affairs if the assigned target is not achieved, says Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. | See pAge 02 | iMpROving TRADe TieS
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
Pakistan is keen to enhance economic trade co-operation within the OIC member countries, says Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir. | See pAge 05 | ObLigingkiTHAnDkin
LAHORE
M HAYAT FTO directs FBR to investigate the alleged misuse of official vehicles by friends and relatives of some senior officers of the revenue division. | See pAge 03 | CHeCking Revenue LeAkAge
Bajwa instructs Chief Collectors and Collectors to check mis-declaration of goods at the import stage and take necessary measures to ensure proper collection of customs duty. | See pAge 05 |
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he Customs Collectorate (Adjudication), Lahore is committed to speedy dispensation of justice through timely disposal of cases registered at various Customs stations including dry ports, airport and Wagha border. Verdict of the collectorate is not Rinal because ‘convicts’ always reserve the right to appeal in higher courts. Customs Collector (Adjudication) Sumera Nazir expressed these views during an exclusive interview with Customs Today at Customs House, Lahore. Cases are decided at different levels by customs adjudication ofRicials including Collector, Additional Collectors and Deputy Collectors to the satisfaction of the parties involved, she added.
“Any party having reservations about any verdict of the collectorate can move the higher courts,” Sumera informed. She said that parties are free to challenge Customs adjudication verdicts at Customs Appellate Tribunal, High Courts and Supreme Court. “If the Customs ofRicials involved deem that they are not heard properly by the adjudication department against the party, the ofRicials may approach Appellate Tribunal and Higher Courts.” Sumera revealed that usually Customs Collector Adjudication could hear cases involving goods worth more than Rs3 million but cases below this amount were dealt by ofRicials of the adjudication including ADCs, DCs and other staff. She said that the Customs Collectorate Adjudication held immensely important role in the entire apparatus of revenue collection. “Since the very inception of the collectorate, cases are being heard and disposed of properly unlike past
when it would require a lot of time to hear and decide a case,” the Customs collector adjudication claimed. Collector Sumera opined that the Collectorate was an independent organ within the body structure of the
that the Collectorate of Adjudication decided 665 cases that involved tax amount of Rs1,795 million during the past nine months of Fiscal Year 2013-14. These cases were instituted by
Cases are judged at different levels by customs adjudication officials including Collector, Additional Collectors and Deputy Collectors to the satisfaction of the aggrieved parties Customs Department which could not be inRluenced through any pressure. “Being unbiased and judicious while hearing a case is one of the signiRicant tricks of the trade,” she observed. Meanwhile, statistics disclosed
different agencies of the customs including Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation, deputy directorate office Gujranwala, Collectorate of Preventive and Appraisement, Collectorate of Sambrial, Post Clearance Customs House Lahore.
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NATIONAL
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
Anf recovers over 2.1 tonne drugs worth Rs4.328b
LAHORE: Anti Narcotics Force has conducted six operations in various parts of the country and seized over 2.1 tonne of drugs valuing over Rs 4 billion in international market. ANF recovered 2.1 tonne Opium, 9 kg heroin and 1.2 kg charas from Qila Abdullah, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Recovered drugs were mostly meant for overseas destinations and valued approximately Rs 4.32 billion in international market.
April collection to set the pace for achieving revised annual target
LackofITskills:FBR Memberseeks officerscapacity-build toconductE-audit
Dar tells tax collectors to gird up loins Minister unequivocally conveys to chief commissioners to gear up lest he would have to sit in Revenue Division to run affairs ISLAMABAD
CuSTOMS TODAY RepORT — Exclusive Customs Today photo
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n view of the lack of IT skills of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officers to conduct E-audit of business units and companies, having shifted their accounting procedures to IT-based system from manually maintained books of account (ledger, cash book, journal etc), FBR Member Taxpayers Audit Haroon Mohammad Khan Tareen has directed all Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) for training of E-Audit and computerised accounting module. Haroon Tareen informed the field formations officers that a number of businesses had shifted their accounting procedures to IT-based systems from manually maintained account books. It is to be noted that at time of audit of companies, the officers of Inland Revenue often feel handicapped due to lack of requisite IT skills and expertise particularly that of IT-based accounting operations. Generally, most of such software is based on Oracle platforms yet Inland Revenue officers are not equipped to handle such software, not to mention firewalls and security checks incorporated in the software by each user company. —CT Report
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FBR relaxes licencing rules for warehouses BR amended Customs Rules, 2001 through an SRO 202(I)/2014, relaxing customs licencing rules for persons/firms planning to operate a warehouse. Under the customs rules, 'warehouse' means a common bonded warehouse, a manufacturing bond, a private bonded warehouse or a public bonded warehouse licensed by the collector. The applicants will not be required to submit comprehensive insurance policy along with documents to Customs collector concerned for obtaining licence for warehouse under Customs Rules. Any person or firm desirous of operating a warehouse shall apply to Collector in the form set out in Appendix-I to the relevant chapter along with the specified documents. —CT Report
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he otherwise sanguine Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the Federal Board of Revenue to gear up efforts for meeting the target of Rs199 billion envisaged for the ongoing month of April 2014, declaring unequivocally that he will have to sit at Revenue Division himself to ensure achievement of revised tax collection target of Rs2,345 billion by June if the April revenue target was not achieved. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who came from Washington directly went to the FBR Headquarters to inform the tax collectors that they would have to rise to the challenge to meeting the revenue target. Addressing the Chief Commissioners' Conference, Mr Dar said that he would sit at FBR House to run the government affairs if the assigned target had not been achieved. He clarified that the tax rates would not be increased rather the base would be expanded to improve taxto-GDP ratio. The Finance minister stated that all macro-economic targets were indicating positive signs in national economy and what the situation warranted was the stepped up efforts o achieve the revised target for 2013-14. He declared that tax net would be broadened in the next budget and there would be no increase in tax rates, adding that certain number of exemptions would
Top brass dissatisfied with RTOs, LTus performance he Federal Board of Revenue is dissatisfied with the performance of Chief Commissioners of LargeTaxpayer Units (LTUs) and RegionalTax Offices (RTOs) in the collection of revenue through budgetary measures introduced in Finance Act, 2013. As per details, the FBR top brass has conveyed its concerns to the Chief Commissioners at a conference held at FBR House.The board has taken new taxation measures to the tune of Rs200 billion in budget (2013-14). However, the field formations have not yet shown revenue collection up to the mark, as estimated from the budgetary measures for 2013-14.This has been conveyed to the Chief Commissioners in the conference to see the estimated collection from new taxation measures taken in the budget and actual
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collection by each reformed unit in the field formations.The FBR is strictly analysing the revenue impact of major taxation related enforcement/administrative measures taken in budget (2013-14).The board has asked the tax officials to manage revenue measures of income tax introduced through Finance Act, 2013.The withholding statements have to be thoroughly scrutinised in the light of provisions introduced through Finance Act, 2013. Though the Finance Minister patted the tax bosses on the back, he prodded him into improving their performance in last quarter of the ongoing financial year. He sensitised the officers to focus on their collection target envisaged for the remaining two and a half month period as the government was not going to announce any new relief measures.
PRVSectionofAppraisement-WestrecoversRs41m KARACHI
SOHAiL RAb kHAn www.customstoday.com
he Post ReleaseVerification (PRV) Section of Model Customs Collectorate of AppraisementWest under the dynamic leadership of Collector Muhammad Saleem has recovered an amount of Rs 41,384,870 by the end of third quarter during the current fiscal year i.e. the period from January to March, 2014. The PRV Section of MCC Appraisement-West has detected 44 cases of tax evasion which include mis-declaration, under-invoicing, nonimplementation of valuation rulings and violation of SROs and recovered an amount of Rs 14,677,932 in the month of March. The PRV Section has recovered an amount of Rs 40,981 from the importer M/s Gamalux Oleo Chemicals through a filed GD No.330; Rs 548,379 from M/s Mil Stone (Pvt) Ltd through a GD No.401; Rs 1,725,639 from M/s Rainbow Hi-tech Engineering (Pvt) Ltd through its four filed GDs
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No.23348, 41163, 9638 and 22368; Rs 243,084 from M/s A K Business Link through a GD No.99528; Rs 1,630,330 from M/s LEO Enterprises via GD Nos. 83468, 112669 and 112582; Rs 2,300,880 from M/s Ahsan Elahi & Co through GD Nos.115448, 109635, 97055 and 73873. It has recovered an amount of Rs 1,225,394 from M/s Shah Enterprises via GD Nos. 92788, 77440, 53882; Rs 847,887 from M/s Shah Corporation via GD No.1144163, and recovered an amount of Rs 2,313,477 on mis-declaration on the import of fabric on self-clearance; Rs 146,244 from M/s Packages Limited through GD Nos. 119776 and 119774; Rs 658,870 on mis-declaration of white oil import on self-clearance; Rs 131,872 from Alamgir International via GD No. 122470; Rs 1,071,886 from M/s KhurasanTraders through GD Nos. 66792, 62601 and 65913; Rs 55,721 from M/s Khadija Electronics via GD No 103373; and recovered an amount of Rs 512,258 from M/s Energy Enterprises through a GD No.74014. The Post ReleaseVerification (PRV) Section of the Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement-
West has recovered an amount of Rs 5,323,942 in the month of February, 2014. The PRV Section of MCC Appraisement-West has recovered an amount of Rs 551,140 on the Goods Declaration (GD) No. 38089; Rs 467,905 on GD No. 41189; Rs 564,450 on GD No. 47457; Rs 375,831 on GD No. 47498; Rs 565,948 on GD No. 67331; Rs 558,820 on GD No. 62926; Rs 484,919 on GD No.58229; Rs 204,426 on GD No.97534; Rs 300,707 on GD No. 41227; and recovered an amount of Rs 729,848 on GD No. 101950. The PRV Section has recovered an amount of Rs 21,382,996 in month of January, 2014. It has recovered Rs 313, 497 from Lasani Auto parts in pretext of the inadmissible claim of benefit of SRO 1125(1)/2011 on carpet floor mats; Rs 383,230 from Selani & Selani Enterprises due to the implementation of incorrect valuation ruling on cashew nuts; Rs 732,358 from GMC Enterprises against the incorrect valuation ruling on computer and mobile accessories and Rs 58,571 from Irshad Hussain &Co on incorrect application of PCT code on expanded polythene cap liner.
be abolished to broaden the base. Dar lauded the FBR’s performance in achieving 17 percent growth by netting Rs1,573 billion in first nine months of the current fiscal year, saying that the FBR will have to achieve Rs772 billion during the last quarter (April-June) period to reach the desired tax collection target of Rs2,345 billion. Appreciating the performance of the FBR in revenue collection, the Finance Minister said that Rs 214 billion were collected in the month of March 2014 but it would have to collect Rs257 billion per month to achieve the revenue collection target. Dar said achieving the revenue target is imperative to develop programmes for future of the country as the government had doubled expenditures on the welfare of poor. The expenditures on the poor segments have been enhanced from Rs40 billion to Rs75 billion. He also asked the taxpayers to pay their due share of taxes, considering it a national duty so that public welfare and infrastructure projects can be undertaken for the socio-economic prosperity. Dar said the economic indicators are showing positive trends and the same have been endorsed by the international financial institutions. GDP has witnessed growth while the inflation level has come down. The appreciation of Pakistani rupee has reduced our debt burden. He added that the country’s entry into the international bond market after seven years was a success story and our bond was oversubscribed many times,” he highlighted.
fbR concessions on 993 items BR issued an SRO 280(I)/2014, declaring tariff concessions on the import of 993 items from Sri Lanka under FreeTrade Agreement (FTA).The newly issued SRO superseded an SRO 570(I)/2005 issued in June 6, 2005. According to the SRO, the Federal government exempts import to Pakistan from Sri Lanka, if made in conformity with the "rules of Determination of Origin of Goods under the FreeTrade Agreement between Pakistan and Sri Lanka (PakistanSri Lanka FTA Rules of Origin)" and the operating“|Certification Procedure for the Rules of Origin", notified by the Commerce Ministry.The goods falling under the respective Heading and sub-Heading numbers of the First Schedule of the Customs Act has been exempted from so much of customs-duty, as in excess of the rates specified in the SRO. —CT Report
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ISLAMABAD 03
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
Drugs seized from possession of two foreigners
LAHORE: Anti-Narcotics Force has seized over 600 grams of drugs, arresting two foreign drug smugglers at the same time. ANF while acting upon secret information raided at Graveyard Block-1, PIA Society, Lahore, arrested two foreigners and recovered 600 grams of off-white heroin from their possession. Out of recovered drugs, 300 grams were recovered from hand bag of Amara, a Guinea national. An equal amount was impounded from possession of Ikechukwu Emmanuel, a South African national.
ustoms Central Region has collected a total customs duty of Rs 22,457 million during first nine months of the current fiscal year which is up by 22 per cent against Rs 18,369 million during the same period in the previous fiscal year. Customs Central Region consists of collectorates in Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad. Collectorate of Appraisement Lahore collected total customs duty of Rs 10,603 million from July to March this fiscal year against Rs 8,344 million in the same period last fiscal year. The collectorate collected 27 per cent additional customs duty slightly missing the target by 5 per cent. Collectorate of Preventive Lahore collected Rs 3,584 million during the first nine months of FY 2013-14 against Rs 2,834 million during the same period last fiscal year. The collectorate attained 26 per cent year on year growth besides meeting the target of Rs 3,551 million. In the same period, the Collectorate of Multan collected customs duty of Rs 6,942 million against 5,654 million during FY 2012-13. The collectorate attained a growth of 23 per cent. However, it missed the target by 8 per cent. The target for the collectorate was set at Rs 7,521 million. Collectorate of Faisalabad collected Rs 1,327 million during the nine months of FY 2013-14 against Rs 1,786 million during the corresponding period last fiscal year. The collectorate generated 14 per cent lower customs duty during the period under review against the same period during the fiscal year 2012-13. The Customs Central Region collectively attained a hefty growth of Rs 4,088 million up 22 per cent, however missing the target by Rs 1,601 million which is 7 percent behind. —CT Report
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kith & kin obliged at cost of kitty
fTO wants fbR to probe misuse of official vehicles ISLAMABAD
CuSTOMS TODAY RepORT www.customstoday.com
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ederal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has directed Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to investigate the alleged misuse of ofRicial vehicles by some senior ofRicers of the revenue division, their friends and relatives. “The FTO secretariat requires the FBR’s position on the speciRic points raised in a written statement of allegations that Ali Arshad Hakeem, the then chairman FBR, Muhammad Riaz Khan, the then member customs, Husnain Arshad, member Admin, used to requisition vehicles from all Rields formations/warehouses for the use of their friends and relatives. The DG Intelligence (Customs) would provide most of the vehicles,” says an ofRicial FTO memo sent to the FBR. The memo says that the FTO received a written statement of allegations on misuse of conRiscated vehicles – Land Cruisers, Prados, Cherokee and Lexus, Jeep etc – by senior ofRicers of the Revenue Division/FBR, who had already got their ofRicial vehicles monetised and drawing their operational costs as per the monetisation scheme. The FTO stated that it made discreet inquiries to ascertain the allegations. “A number of ofRicials of relevant Rield ofRices were informally contacted and most of them conRirmed the allegations as correct. The allegation of provision of a car by Customs Intelligence Lahore to be got repaired and refurbished at a workshop in Peshawar was informally conRirmed by a reliable inside source as 100% correct,” it says. The FTO states that some of the inside sources provided a lead that ofRicial Rleet cards and extra fuel slips had
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
Central region's duty collection grows by 22pc in 9 months
been used for providing fuel for such vehicles.“In some cases the ofRicials responsible for managing fuel and repair costs of ofRicial vehicles used to write the names of the drivers of misused vehicles on the extra fuel slips issued by them as a precaution for their own security against eventuality of detection of the ongoing abuse.” The FTO notes that misuse of ofRicial vehicles by senior ofRicials, who had already availed the beneRit of monetisation scheme, was also reported as rampant. “After being satisRied about the prima facie of the allegations, the FTO takes suo motu notice of these allegations in terms
The fTO notes misuse of official vehicles by senior officials is also rampant
of section 9(1) of the FTO Ordinance, 2000,” the letter says, adding that the alleged misuse of ofRicial vehicles is needed to be properly investigated. The letter says that in addition to above, 20 speciRic cases of alleged misuse are listed in the statement of allegations. “The DRs are asked to furnish reply to these speciRic allegations,” it says. The FTO notes that instead of adequately determining the facts and correctly reporting these to the FTO secretariat, the allegations are either denied straightaway or evasive replies made by the customs authorities.
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04 KARACHI
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
19,000 litres of iranian petrol, diesel captured
KARACHI: Pakistan Coast Guards and Pakistan Customs have seized 19,000 litres of petrol and diesel in two separate raids from RCD Highway and Baba Island. During a joint raid with Pakistan Coast Guards, Pakistan Customs recovered about 15,000 litres of Iranian petrol from a truck on RCD Highway. In another raid carried out in Baba Island Kemari, the officials seized 4,000 litres of Iranian diesel. The market value of the captured petrol and diesel is being estimated to be Rs20 million.
akistan Customs on the directives of Federal Interior Ministry has placed the names of 28 clearing agents on Exit Control List (ECL) in connection with missing containers’case, it is learnt here. The ECL list includes the names of clearing agents Khalid Javed Paracha bearing CNIC # 42201-4251200-9, Muhammad Arshad Paracha bearing CNIC # 42101-1664030-7, Amir Altaf bearing CNIC # 42301-5950312-1, Qazi Zahid Hussain bearing CNIC # 37105-9358285-9, Muhammad Arshad bearing CNIC # 422010715018-9, Anwar-ul-Haq Abbasi bearing CNIC # 42101-1333061-7, Muhammad Tayyab bearing CNIC # 42401-1556445-9, Farooq Ahmed bearing CNIC # 421011910012-3, Muhammad Shahid Hassan bearing CNIC # 42101-8864247-7, Muhammad Qasim bearing CNIC # 542012467073-7, Imtiaz Khalid bearing CNIC # 42301-5331732-3, Shaukat Ali Siddiqui bearing CNIC # 42101-1602418-5, Muhammad Tanveer Paracha bearing CNIC # 42201-3191808-9, Abdul Rehman bearing CNIC # 42301-4200454-5, Syed Muhammad Waseem Kazmi bearing CNIC # 422019437564-7, Riaz-ur-Rehman bearing CNIC # 42000-0481769-9, Masood-ul-Hasan bearing CNIC # 42201-2570210-1, Taha Nawaz bearing CNIC # 42201-8031293-9, Aslam Naviwala holding CNIC # 422012963165-5, Khalid Karim holding CNIC # 17301-6490812-1, Mushtaq Ahmed holding CNIC # 42201-1733434-9, Shahid Haleem holding CNIC # 42201-9456942-9, Tahir Malik holding CNIC # 35202-2546773-1, Farid Ahmad Khan holding CNIC # 4230173462775, Adil Abbas Paracha holding CNIC # 42101-9742105-7, Muhammad Asif Khan holding CNIC # 42301-0834116-7 and Javed Akhtar Butt holding CNIC # 422016987964-3. —CT Report
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MCCAppraisementWest clears5,520imported vehiclesinQ3 odel Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement-West has cleared 5,520 imported vehicles in the 3rd quarter of the current fiscal year i.e. the period from January to March, 2014, it is learnt here. Sources in MCC Appraisement-West informed CustomsToday that the collectorate has collected total revenue of Rs 3,522.43 million on import of vehicles in share of customs duty, sales tax and income tax. They further told this scribe that the MCC of Appraisement-West has collected Rs 2,277.87 million in share of customs duty, Rs 902.82 million in share of sales tax and Rs 341.74 million in share of income tax on import of vehicles in 3rd quarter of the current fiscal year. Sources revealed that the MCC of Appraisement-West has witnessed a shortfall of 60 per cent in variation of the import of vehicles as compared to the 3rd quarter of the last fiscal year and a shortfall of 56 per cent in variation of customs duty as compared to same period last fiscal year. —CT Report
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R&D Section of MCC-Appraisement east recovers Rs24.56m in Q3 KARACHI
CuSTOMS TODAY RepORT www.customstoday.com
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he Research and Development (R&D) Section of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement-East under the dynamic leadership of Collector Najeeb-ur-Rehman Abbasi has recovered an amount of Rs 24,561,986 in the third quarter of the current Riscal year. The R&D Section has recovered an amount of Rs 6,291,538 in the month of March in different cases including non-application of scan prices, non-application of valuation rulings and data guidelines, mis-declaration of value and quantity, and misuse of SROs. In the month of March, the R&D Section has recovered an amount of Rs 133,974 from M/s Al-Saeed Enterprises on non-application of scan prices on low/high density polythene; Rs 555,320 from M/s Manghal Trading on non-application of valuation ruling and data guideline on textile mix fabrics; Rs 82,000 from M/s Bin Arif Industries on non-application of valuation ruling on ISO propyl alcohol (Tech Grade); Rs 55,005 from M/s Jan Tex on non-application of valuation ruling on viscose; Rs 392,366 from M/s Agar International on non-application of valuation ruling on sodium sulphate; Rs 1,826,680 from M/s H A Kareem on mis-declaration of value and quantity on miscellaneous goods; Rs 283,791 from M/s S A Enterprises on misdeclaration of value on plastic material; Rs 1,163,987 from M/s Ali Enterprises on mis-declaration of value and quantity on auto parts; Rs 608,361 from M/s A Raza Enterprises on excess quantity of baby diapers; Rs 376,436 from M/s Chemium Innmium Innovation on
non-application of valuation ruling on potassium sulphate; Rs 46,256 from M/s DWP Technologies on mis-use of SRO on home inventor kits; Rs 88,362 from M/s Fairdenl International on under valuation of palm fatty acid; and recovered an amount of Rs 679,000 from M/s Dynamic Bravo Industries on mis-declaration of value and classiRication of auto parts. The R&D Section of MCC Appraisement-East has recovered an amount of Rs 13,733,904 in the month of February. It has recovered an amount of Rs 658,200 from M/s Jotun Powder Coatings Pak on incorrect classification in primal; Rs 372,153 from M/s Ashfaq Brothers on non application of Valuation Ruling No. 549/13 of met cock; Rs 182,271 from M/s Kasel (Pvt) Ltd on nonapplication of valuation guideline on wood flooring; Rs 9,779,606 from M/s Siddiq Sons on non-application of Valuation Ruling No.
549/13 on met cock; Rs 114,170 from M/s Al-Karam Packages Ltd on non application of scan prices on high density polythene; Rs 220,296 from M/s Saleh Mohammad A Kareem against ONO No.180493-18 on excess weight in European Beech Sawn Timber; Rs 340,281 from M/s S B Zaki Holz against ONO No.180386-18 on excess weight in Red Merati Sawn Timber; Rs 540,413 from M/s Jetpurwala Enterprises on non-application of Valuation Ruling No.599/13 on skin milk powder; Rs 75,111 from M/s Golden Industries on non-application of scan prices on low density polythene; Rs 117,161 from M/s I J Plastic Industries on non-application of scan prices of low density polythene; Rs 75,602 from M/s Aziz Traders against ONO No.179957-17 on Red Meranti Woods; Rs 10,334 from M/s M Ghazwan & Co on inadmissible
concession of advance Income Tax under Section 148 on soft wood sawn timber; Rs 73,211 from M/s Alpha Pipe Industries on non-application of scan prices on high density polythene; Rs 65,160 from M/s Nashan (Pvt) Ltd on non-application of valuation guideline on phosphoric acid; Rs 119,721 from M/s International Industries on non-application of scan prices on high density polythene; Rs 333,223 from M/s Pakges Ltd on non-application of scan prices of low density polythene; Rs 24,036 from M/s AHY Industries on non-application of valuation guideline on low density polythene; Rs 172,536 from M/s J Zee Enterprises on non-application of valuation guideline on PMC low density polythene and Rs 92,784 from M/s Yousuf Pakges (Pvt) Ltd on non-application of valuation guideline on low density polythene.
FBRtransfersGrade-21officialsofPakistanCustoms KARACHI
CuSTOMS TODAY RepORT www.customstoday.com
ederal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday made very important transfers and postings of Grade-21 officials of Pakistan Customs. According to FBR notification, following Customs officers are transferred and posted: Ghulam Ahmad (PCS/BS-21) transferred from Member, Federal Board of Revenue (Headquarters), Islamabad to the post of DG, Directorate General ofTraining & Research (Customs), Karachi. Muhammad Nazim Saleem (PCS/BS-21) transferred from the post of Director General, Directorate General of CustomsValuation,
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— Exclusive Customs Today photo
Missing containers case: Names of 28 clearing agents on ECL
Karachi and posted as Chief Collector of Customs (Enforcement), Karachi. MuhammadYahya (PCS/BS-21) transferred from the post of Chief Collector of Customs
(Enforcement), Karachi and posted as Director General, Directorate General of Customs Valuation, Karachi. Ali Salman Abbasi (PCS/BS-21) posted as Member (Enforcement), Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad from DG, Directorate General ofTraining & Research (Customs), Lahore. Tariq Ahad Nawaz (PCS/BS-21) transferred from Member, Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad and posted as Director General, Directorate General of Reforms & Automation, FBR, Islamabad. Ms. Rubina Athar (PCS/BS-21) transferred from Member, FBR, Islamabad and posted as Director General, Directorate General IPR Enforcement & Research, FBR, Islamabad. The notification said that the officers
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
who are drawing performance allowance prior to issuance of this notification shall continue to draw this allowance on the new place of posting.
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NATIONAL 05
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
Textile exporters seek rebate over rupee appreciation
KARACHI: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has urged the government to pay 10 per cent rebate to textile exporters to shield themselves from the inventory losses they have incurred due to the fast appreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar. Textile exporters have faced the brunt of $ 300 million in exchange rate losses and huge cotton inventories. The sudden surge of rupee value against the dollar has disturbed the business cycle of exporters who get export payments after a lag of 90-120 days.
pakistan keen to enhance trade within OiC countries: Dastgir
Bajwa directs collectors to check revenue leakage at import stage ISLAMABAD
CuSTOMS TODAY RepORT www.customstoday.com
I akistan is keen to enhance economic trade co-operation within the OIC member countries.The Muslim Ummah does need to achieve high level of development and prosperity as it has abundance of unexploited economic resources. However, it is lacking the will and the efficient usage of these resources. This was stated by Minister forTrade and Commerce Khurram Dastgir while addressing the 2nd OIC-LCCITrade Conference. “We should discuss among ourselves candidly and openly the issues related to globalisation, economic liberalization, agriculture, environment, science and technology and of course, trade co-operation stands out as a priority area,” said Dastgir. He said that existing intra OIC trade hovers around 16 per cent of the total OIC trade in the world which is far below than its real potential. Pakistan’s total trade with the OIC countries stands around 40 per cent, he said, adding that in order to achieve the objective of higher regional trade within OIC Pakistan has been in the forefront in finalising the OIC preferential system. “We believe this important initiative of market access will change the course of intra-regional trade in the foreseeable future,”he said. —CT Report
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n a high level meeting with the Chief Collectors and Collectors of Pakistan Customs FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa has issued directions to usher in thorough scrutiny as to why the customs duty on certain items at the import stage has not correspondingly increased against rise in sales tax collections on same imports. The observations were made in the meeting attended by Chief Collectors and Collectors from all over the country with Chairman Tariq Bajwa in the chair. The conference was held to check revenue leakage particularly customs duty at the import stage for improving collection through clearance of imported consignments. The agenda of the conference also included revenue collection through sales tax, withholding tax and federal excise duty during third quarter of 2013-14 speciRically March, 2014. Chief Collectors and Collectors of Customs presented the analysis of lower collection of sales tax and withholding tax in March, 2014 apart from customs duty. As noted in the meeting there are few different situations which resulted in less customs duty collection as compared to collection of sales tax on imports: if customs duty has not been assessed by the customs ofRicers concerned, however, full sales tax has been charged on the same import; if undue beneRit of the concessionary SRO has been given to the importer; if some concessionary SROs apply lower rate of duty to certain industries, but exemption has been wrongly granted whereas full sales tax has been charged on the same item; if duty is exempt legally, but sales tax is applicable on the same item where standard rate of 17 per cent has been charged; if some concessionary SROs apply concessionary/lower rate of duty, but 17 per cent sales tax is applicable; if sales tax is charged on duty paid value, but duty has been charged on CIF value. This shows that sales tax would deRinitely be more as compared to duty as sales
tax is always being charged on duty paid value. In such a situation, collection of sales tax would be more on the same item as compared to customs duty; and if beneRit of exemption has been given to the importer by not charging duty due to illegal act of the ofRicials concerned. As to FBR Chairman’s concerns with the question of improvement in sales tax collection contrary to customs duty collection at the import stage in case of the same products, one of the reasons forwarded was that the customs duty rates are less on such items compared to the sales tax at the import stage. However, analysis presented in the conference revealed that all the items showing low collection of duty are not in the lower customs tariff slabs where sales tax collection improved during this period. The whole analysis conRirmed that the customs authorities are not effectively checking misdeclaration or under-valuation of goods at the import stage. The actual customs duty to be collected through clearance of imported consignments is not coming compared to the number of goods cleared from ports. It was pointed out that there are two broad components of imports i.e. dutiable imports and duty-free imports. The base of customs duty is obviously dutiable imports. On average around 30-35 per cent of the total imports are dutiable while the remaining items are duty-free. Moreover, duty free imports have improved while dutiable imports grew less in percentage. Hence, this is a major reason for marginal growth in the collection of customs duty. Tariq Bajwa issued instructions to the Chief Collectors and Collectors of Customs to immediately take necessary measures to check the mis-declarations of goods at the import stage. It has been observed that the tariff classiRication under Pakistan Customs Tariff (PCT) headings and description of goods under Harmonized System (HS) codes is not done properly which is also one of the factors for low customs duty during current Riscal year. The chairman also directed the Collectors of Customs to check loopholes at the import stage to ensure proper collection of
Tax authorities directedto take measuresfor accurate assessment ofimported goodswhich would improve customsduty collectionin the remaining periodofthe fiscalyear 2013-14
customs duty on the items cleared from ports. Tax authorities were also directed to take measures for accurate assessment of imported goods which would improve customs duty collection in the remaining period of the Riscal year 2013-14. While addressing the conference, Tariq Bajwa observed that best teams in the form of Chief Collectors and Collectors have been deputed at Model Customs Collectorates. FBR was expecting best results from them, but if best teams cannot achieve the desired results then their use would be questionable. He also said that although our forces has lesser facilities, man power and logistic but what is needed is the prudence in the use of these to handle the situation at present. The FBR Chairman also directed the Collectors of Customs to conduct thorough analysis of revenue collection trend on the import of High Speed Diesel (HSD). The FBR speciRically issued instructions to the collectorates known as Diesel Collectorates to carryout analysis of the HSD. The Collectors of Customs Faisalabad and Multan would conduct analysis on the import of HSD from all angles including valuation, import, clearance, marketing and supply of the commodity. Both the Diesel Collectorates would also analyse the revenue collection from the HSD from all collectorates covering all areas in this regard. During the meeting it was observed that one of the reasons for slum in the revenue collection is the result of low volume of import of furnished oil which is one of the main sources of revenue collection as a whole, the sources in FBR revealed. Government is focusing to give boost up the reRineries in Pakistan rather than to depend on import of furnished oil and for this purpose the raw, crude oil is being imported which has no or very less tax on import stage. The conference also Rinalised a strategy to achieve revenue targets of customs duty, sales tax, withholding tax and federal excise duty in the remaining period of the 201314. A special committee of the Directorate General of Customs Valuation Karachi has been engaged in analysing the valuation ruling for accurate assessment of duty at the import stage.
CollectorateofAdjudication-iissuesOnOagainstpowercompany KARACHI
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ustoms Collectorate of Adjudication-I has issued Order-in Original (ONO) on April, 9 against M/s Gujranwala Electric Power Co. Ltd and clearing agent Daco International Transport (Pvt) Limited on mis-declaration in a consignment of 16 145 KV coupling capacitors voltage transformers with steel structure imported fromTurkey. The details revealed that M/s Gujranwala Electric Power Co Ltd imported a consignment of 145 KV coupling capacitors voltage transformers with steel structure fromTurkey which arrived at Karachi Airport vide IGM No.1748 dated 25-022014, Index No.28 and filed Goods Declaration
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(GD) vide Machine No. KPAF-HC-31099 dated 403-2014, invoice submitted along with the GD showing the value of said goods as $ 72,136. Whereas, during the course of physical examination of the consignment the shed staff has reported that the shipper/exporter M/s Daewoo International Corporation,Turkey, at the time of shipment of goods to Karachi had delivered a copy of invoice pertaining to the aforesaid goods to the airline who delivered the same to Pakistan Customs through their cargo handling agent which showed the value of aforementioned goods as $ 173,158 (CFR) instead of value $ 72,136 declared by the importer on invoice as well on GD as CFR.The declared CFR value on GD was less than 140 per cent as compared to actual CFR value of imported goods. According to the contravention report filed by
MCC-Preventive, it was evident that the importer M/s Gujranwala Electric Power Co Ltd, knowingly and deliberately mis-declared the value of imported goods on GD and also presented fabricated/tampered invoice in support of their declaration on GD which resulted in short realization of legitimate government revenue to the tune of Rs 9,300,124 which includes customs duty of Rs 3,632,861; sales tax of Rs 3,705,518; additional sales tax of Rs 653,915; and income tax of Rs 1,307,830. Since, the declaration made in GD in respect of value was false and invoice submitted with GD before customs assessing staff was fabricated to evade duty and taxes.The importer M/s Gujranwala Electric Power Co Ltd have, therefore, committed an offence under Section 148 of IncomeTax Ordinance, 2001 punishable under clause (14) of section 156 (1) of
Customs Act, 1969. And whereas, M/s Gujranwala Electric Power Co Ltd has committed offence and thus contravened the provisions referred above, therefore, in the light of above reported facts, M/s Gujranwala Electric Power Co Ltd was called upon to show-cause as why the amount of duty and taxes may not be recovered and penal action warranted under the aforementioned provision of law may not be taken against it. Hearing in this case had been fixed for 27-03-2014 on which the respondents appeared in the office of Collector Adjudication-I Syed Shahanshah Hasnain. After hearing both the sides, the Collector in his judgment remarked,“I have heard department and the respondent and case record has been examined.The respondent has tried to defend. However, their explanation was not
satisfactory and convincing. On other hand, the department has categorically explained the position as mentioned in the above para.The case clearly speaks of the fact that the importer was aware of the chain of transaction at the time of award of contract. In the view of the foregoing, charges leveled in the show-cause notice are established. Goods are confiscated; however, goods may be released on the payment of total duty and taxes as ascertained by Customs and on payment of fine of Rs 6,363,556 and penalty of Rs 500,000, imposed on the importer. Role of clearing agent cannot be ignored too.The clearing agent did not fulfill his duties of filing the documents properly which otherwise he was supported to do under Customs Act, 1969. Therefore, a penalty of Rs 200,000 has also been imposed on clearing agent.”
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SPECIALREPORT
ML-N Traders Wing President Nasir Saeed has said that SRO culture is one major impediment in the way of revenue collections and it needs to be abolished immediately. In an exclusive talk with Customs Today, he said traders should pay their due taxes, however, they should not be harassed unduly. He was of the view that customs duty on import of goods should be revisited so that the evil of under-invoicing and smuggling may be overcome. “PMLN Trader Wing is the real representative of the traders, importers, exporters and industrialists as it has been sincerely working for the welfare of the traders by resolving their basic problem. It is a common practice that fake leaders trap the innocent traders under the dis-
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LAHORE
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APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
im e r P f to ed n t r e a t m s ern ve v a o h hotos g p y s a d r s To the de ustom a n i e lusive C l c x e E c d — en orl d w fi e n h ll co lt of it t u f e av su h e try r s r n a o u s t o s a c inve arif and the n n i g i s Sh ore ent f z m e a t h w s T ve Na n r i e y t t s Mini ering hef d consi
guise of well wishers but at the end they van ish away with their hard earned money,” Saeed commented. The PML-N Traders Wing has resolved many issues between the government and traders agreeably by presenting the issues before the government in a very artistically evolved system. “Recently traders and importers, exporters have resorted to stage demonstrations. At that very time PML-N Traders Wing took initiative to communicate to the top political leadership who took emergent measure to extend relief to the businessmen,” Saeed highlighted. He said that the issues were resolved as soon as the leadership immediately arranged an urgent meeting with the Finance Minister, FBR Chairman and Members and representatives of sales tax and income tax department. “Present government is a business-friendly government and it is always ready to resolve the business community problems in order to bring back the fragile economy of the country on track,” the Wing’s president stated, adding that GSP Plus is a landmark achievement of the government which will help the country to boost the country’s exports, creating opportunities of employments for the unemployed masses. “The foreign investors have full conRidence in the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and as a result of it the world leaders have started considering hefty investments in the country,” he said. China has promised to invest $32 billion in Pakistan which has become possible due to honesty of the purpose and sincere effort of top leadership, he said, adding that more useful accord with the country are in the ofRing. Positive results of government’s efforts have started coming to the limelight and the time is not far when Pakistan will become prosperous in every respect and stand as example among the nations of the world. www.customstoday.com
SPECIALREPORT 07
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08 EDITORIAL
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
Founder & Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Editor Rahil Yasin editor@customstoday.com.pk For advertising & subscription marketing@customstoday.com.pk +92-322-3370002 www.customstoday.com Phones: 042-35781643-4, Fax: 042-35781645 Address: 627, Siddiq Trade Centre, Gulberg, Lahore
eDiTORiAL
TAX DiReCTORY
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y sticking to the policy of name and shame, Pakistan’s tax authorities have publishedTax Directory 2013 by disclosing NationalTax Numbers (NTNs) and taxes paid by individuals, Associations of Persons and companies. It is generally believed that publishing tax directory is a good step but there has been counter argument put on table by the business community that the country’s volatile security environment will aggravate their difficulties and it might cause an upsurge in crimes like ransom for their near and dear ones after being known by criminals that how much paying capacity they possess. However, the government took decision to publish the tax directory after witnessing severe criticism from media, civil society and international community. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had argued that this issue was raised by US and UK high-ups by taking a plea that Pakistani Parliamentarians were not paying their due taxes so how could they provide their taxpayers’money even for provisions of health and education in Pakistan. So the government had taken conscious decision to first publish tax directory of Parliamentarians and now about all taxpayers.The government, he said, has given deadline of one month to rectify any mistake published in this directory. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stated that he had announced in his speech in the Senate on January 6, 2014 to publish aTax Directory of all taxpayers, in exercise of powers conferred under sub-section (5) of section of 216 of IncomeTax Ordinance, 2001. The government presented the AnnualTax Directory of all taxpayers for the tax year 2013, prepared by the Federal Board of Revenue.ThisTax Directory provides the name, NTN and amount of tax paid by those who had filed their returns.TheTax Directory comprises three sections i.e. Corporations, AOPs and individuals and has been prepared in alphabetical order.“This is an important milestone in providing access to information to the general public and should help in creating a sense of public awareness, motivation and transparency”he added.TheTax Directory reveals that the directory has been tabulated from returns filed manually and electronically (till 14 April 2014). Manually filed Returns have been entered into the system.There may be some discrepancies at the level of filing or data entry. Moreover, a considerable number of manually filed Returns could not be entered into the system despite best efforts due to missing identifiers on the Returns. If one analyzed, out of 180 million people, around 0.8 million are income tax return filers in this country, indicating that shamefully it’s too much lowest compared with many other regional countries. Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratio is dismally low standing at just 8 per cent of GDP which actually fell down in last two decades from 13 per cent to around 8 to 8.5 per cent in last fiscal year. The publication of the directory has made Pakistan the fourth country in the world - after Sweden, Finland and Norway - to publish the details of all individual and corporate tax payers. Now there is need to promote tax culture by bringing down tax rates and broaden its base in order to share burden with those who remained out of tax net despite making huge profits in this country. There is only salaried class and registered businessmen comprising of few thousands falling into category of taxpayers in Pakistan.The government should launch vigorous campaign to broaden its narrowed tax base and bring all kind of income irrespective of their source under the tax net to meet increasing fiscal requirements of the country.
growing foreign reserves ISLAMABAD
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fter witnessing improved foreign inRlows, the government has updated its assessment to increase foreign exchange reserves up to $15 billion till September 2014. Earlier, the government had projected to achieve this target till end December 2014. The revision of this target has been done in the wake of improved foreign inRlows especially from Saudi Arabia, approval of third tranche from IMF under EFF and Rinally launching of Eurobonds. The central bank’s forex reserves, which had nosedived to $2.8 billion few months ago, had again risen to $6.9 billion. The overall reserves including those held by commercial banks have crossed $11 billion mark so far. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had already delivered on account of increasing the foreign currency reserves into eleven digits by crossing $10 billion mark by end March
2014. In the aftermath of receiving $2 billion through Eurobonds into State Bank of Pakistan on April 16, 2014, the foreign currency reserves of central bank rose to $6.9 billion, resulting into further appreciation of rupee against US dollar. The rupee is hovering around 96 against US dollar which had earlier risen close to Rs 110 against the greenback. Now the next challenge for the government is to meet the IMF’s envisaged target till end June 2014 under which the SBP’s held reserves should go up to $9.2 billion within next two and a half months period. It is the plan of the government to raise this money through multilateral donors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, reimbursement of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) from USA and also through persuading Etisalat to provide outstanding amount on account of privatization of PTCL. The Finance Minister says that the government had ensured to get remaining $1.7 billion concessionary loan from World Bank before expiry of IDA-16 which
Next challenge is to meet the IMF’s target till end June 2014 under which the SBP reserves should go up to $9.2b
will end on June 30, 2014. Under IDA-16, the WB had Rixed quota of concessionary loan for Pakistan mounting to $3.2 billion out of which the previous government had failed to get any amount because of suspension of program loans by the bank. Now the World Bank’s executive board is scheduled to meet on May 1, 2014 at Washington D.C to consider two program loans worth $1 billion for Pakistan’s energy and other sectors of the country. In third week of May this year, the WB’s Board will also consider approval of $600 million for Dasu Hydropower Project and $100 million for Sindh. The Asian Development Bank will also consider approval of $400 million loan before June 30, 2014. Finance Minister also seems conRident that he pursued the Obama administration for release of $380 million on account of reimbursement of CSF in May this year. Pakistan had already forwarded four CSF bills and now Islamabad asked them to release the reconciled amount without any further delay.
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APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
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exports cross $16b mark, forex reserves reach $11.5b
ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has announced that Pakistan's exports had reached $16 billion mark. While addressing a news conference in Islamabad, he said that it was due to prudent economic policies of the government that the export target is higher this fiscal year than before. Dar announced that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have reached $ 11.67 billion. He concluded that the government would achieve the target of $ 15 billion in foreign exchange reserves by September 30, 2014.
Taxing retailers: Taskforce sketches out plan to rope in sector
Customs to launch computerized system at Torkham, Chaman borders: Yousufani All national agencies, trade bodies, neighbouring countries including China and Afghanistan would be taken into confidence prior to launching the WeBOC++ or National Single Window KARACHI
SOHAiL RAb kHAn www.customstoday.com
heTaskforce set up by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to rope in retail sector into tax net has submitted its recommendations after evaluating potential of the sector. The taskforce, being headed by FBR Member HRMYasmin Saud, proposed flat tax rate on the basis of geographical location and covered area of the commercial establishments and retail outlets. The taskforce is comprised of Chief Commissioner Amir Ali KhanTalpur, Commissioner Nadir MumtazWarriach, Commissioner Asim Ahmad, Commissioner Dr Faiz Illahi Memon and Additional Commissioner Abdul Hameed Memon. The taskforce has proposed that every withholding agent, making taxable supplies to retailers, should be bound to obtain name and CNIC/NTN from the buyer and provide to tax authorities.They also proposed strict enforcement of tax laws to document the retailers.The taskforce maintained that all commercial connections of electricity and gas may be tagged with NTNs in collaboration with the electricity and gas distribution companies to ensure access to utility payments of the consumers. Secondly, the withholding IncomeTax rates would be enhanced for un-registered commercial consumers running business. —CT Report
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wRiTe TO uS YOuR gRievAnCeS: Through CuSTOMS TODAY platform HeLp DeSk, now you have chance to DiReCTLY write your problems to top govt. functionaries. If you have any grievances, queries, questions or suggestions, you can write in this section as it provides easiest access to you to approach Customs and Revenue authorities. wHO can write in this section? Importers & Exporters, Customs Agents, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Associations and Customs Officers TO wHOM you can write? Honourable PM, Minister/Secretary for Finance & Revenue, Minister/Secretary for Ports and Shipping, FBR Chairman, Member Customs and Chairperson Senate/National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue. Send your letters at: letters@customstoday.com.pk
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he Directorate of Reforms and Automation (R&A) has the prime responsibility to facilitate trade through BRA and Business Process Improvement (BPI). This was stated by Project Director, Directorate of Reforms and Automation, Abdul Majid Yousufani while sharing his views during an exclusive interview with Customs Today at his ofRice here. Sharing his views, Yousufani said that the Directorate of Reforms and Automation would introduce new technologies soon in the Web Based One Customs (WeBOC), Computerized System through BRA, adding that Pakistan Customs would also launch computerized system at Torkham and Chaman borders. Replying to a query, the R&A Project Director said that there was no compatibility of WeBOC with PaCCS, as WeBOC was far better than PaCCS, adding that the PaCCS did not work according to the expectations of the FBR authorities and other stakeholders of trade. “Legitimate expectations of the trade are being fulRilled in the WeBOC, computerized system,” Yousufani elaborated, adding that lacunas and shortcomings had been overcome in the current computerized system”, he added. Yousufani informed that National Tariff Commission (NTC) and others were being linked up through computerized system. The R&A Project Director revealed that the Directorate with the consent of Federal
Board of Revenue (FBR) would launch WeBOC++ or National Single Window for the convenience of businessmen soon, adding that this system would be changed into Regional Single Window in the future. To a query, Yousufani said that all national agencies, trade bodies, neighbouring countries including China and Afghanistan would be taken into conRidence prior to launching the WeBOC++ or National Single Window. “Concept paper and feasibility in this regard would be Rinalized soon”, he informed further. He said that 80 percent legitimate expectations of the traders bodies including importers, exporters, KCCI, Customs agents and other stakeholders had been addressed in WeBOC, computerized system. Commenting on the Customs clearance system of neighbouring countries including Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, Majid Yousufani claimed that Customs clearance system namely ASYSUDA++ and ASYSUDA World made by US authorities were operational in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and 50 other countries of the world, however; these systems had not been computerized yet and were working manually in Sri Lanka and other countries. “WeBOC, computerized system of Pakistan Customs is purely an indigenous and more efRicient system in term of its working as compared to ASYSUDA++, and other Customs clearance system working in neighbouring and regional countries”, Yousufani asserted. To a query, the Project Director said that the Pakistan Customs wanted to utilize indigenous system for clearance of consignments without involving any foreign assistance. On the occasion, the Project Director of Directorate of Reforms and Automation declared that the Pakistan Customs within a period of one-year would completely elimi-
pakistan Customs within a period of one-year would completely eliminate OneCustoms from clearance process
nate One-Customs from clearance process, adding that proper assistance of all stakeholders was required in this regard. “We are taking all stakeholders into conRidence prior to any amendment to computerized system and regular meetings are also conducted wherein Pakistan Customs welcomes positive suggestions from trade bodies”, he explained. Responding to a query, Yousufani revealed that the roll-out WeBOC, computerized system had already working at Karachi Port Trust and system-to-system connectivity in this regard had also been made. He said that the WeBOC had also been run at AICT, BOML and off-dock terminals including NICC, KPT and AFU. “Directorate of Reforms and Automation has been rendering services through computerized system in the sectors of Imports, Exports, Transit Trade, Transit Pass (TP) and others linked programmes despite limited resources”, he claimed. He informed that the Directorate of Reforms and Automation was committed to facilitating the traders while remaining in its legitimate boundaries and the stakeholders would make out their GD status on their cellphones. Commenting on PRAL working, the R&A Project Director said that the Directorate was working on enhancing strength of the PRAL and positive changes would be introduced in the department soon. Message for Customs Today: Customs Today has introduced and setup new standards in journalism in term of quality of contents and publication. “I hope the Customs Today will continue to keep its standard high and raise the bar for other competitors with every passing day,” said Abdul Majid Yousufani, Project Director, Directorate of Reforms and Automation.
Needtoencourageoff-dockservicestoattractinternationalbuyers To, The Honorable Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad Respected Sir, We would like to draw your kind attention towards a recent issue faced by the members of Pakistan International Freight Forwarders Association (PIFFA) in regards to Customs authorities through a public notice 4/2013-Exp/HCR issued by the Customs department in which the department has imposed a restriction on buyers’ consolidation from off-dock facilities. Sir, the decision will drastically affect the export orders from global brand customers as these customers did nominate their own forwarders to carry out these speciRic services as per Standard Operating Procedures. However, on the other
hand, bonded CFS like Badruddin, PMS and MI Yards at port is unable to cater the growing value addition requirement and demands of the global buyers. The PIFFA members performed Less Containers Load (LCL) consolidation and buyers’ consolidation services, using off-dock non-bonded warehouses, offering value-added containers’ management services as per Standard Operating Procedure, required by global brand customers like Levi’s, Nike, IKEA, Target stores, JC Penny, etc. Besides normal stufRing, the PIFFA members are providing other value-addition services including order-wise segregated stufRing, outer packing inspection, colour wise load plan, barcode labelling and scanning, weight and random inner quantity checking, equipment inspection and cleaning, replace-
ment of outer packing, stufRing pictures and maximize load-ability, etc. It is pertinent to mention here that our neighbouring country, India, and other competing countries were encouraging off-dock services to attract international buyers whereby customized value addition services were offered to export ready to store products right from their manufacturing origins. However, Customs department in Pakistan has on the contrary implied the said public notice to stop LCL consideration at non-bonded facilities, it alleged. Therefore, PIFFA requests the Customs and FBR authorities to review and redress the grievances faced by the PIFFA members. Yours’ sincerely, Abdul Majeed Paracha, Chairman PIFFA
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10 PICTORIAL
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
fire at valparaiso port leaves 15 dead
VALPARAISO: The devastating forest fire in the Chilean port of Valparaiso being extinguished after five days has claimed at least 15 lives, injuring over 500 people and leaving some 12,500 residents homeless. The blaze, considered the worst in the city's history, spread across several densely-populated hilltops, destroying more than 2,900 homes and razing about a thousand hectares of land. The port of Valparaiso has suffered extensive damage.
RiYADH: Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense meeting with Minister of Commerce Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan.
iSLAMAbAD: A group photo of visiting Federal Tax Ombudsman of Pakistan Abdul Rauf Ch with officials of Tax Bar Association after annual meeting at a local hotel.
kARACHi: Chairman Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants’ Association (PCDMA) Shaukat Riaz is presenting bouquet to S.M. Muneer, CEO TDAP. Vice Chairman PCDMA Arshad Kamal, Ex-Chairman Nasiruddin Fateh Kukda, Ex-Vice Chairman Zubair Riaz, Haroon NUmberdar, Abid Aslam, Arshad Saeed and Arshad Usman also seen in the picture.
fATebeginsseriesofworkshopstointeractwithtaxpayers ISLAMABAD
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ederal Board of Revenue Member Facilitation and Taxpayers Education (FATE) Riffat Shaheen Qazi has taken the initiative of holding series of workshops and seminars all over the country to interact with the taxpayers. The objectives of these seminars and workshops are to communicate with the taxpayers and to educate them about the various initiatives undertaken by FBR and FATE to facilitate them as well as to get feedback from the taxpayers to Rine tune and improve the FBR-taxpayer relationship. The Rirst of this series of workshops was held at the Regional Tax OfRice (RTO) Rawalpindi to interact with the withholding agents of different organizations. The workshop was opened by Member FATE Riffat Shaheen Qazi who introduced the objectives of the workshop and encouraged the participants to freely and openly discuss their problems regarding the tax system and to give their input for improvement of the system.
Chief Commissioner of RTO Rawalpindi, Aftab Ahmed appreciated the initiative of FATE and said that these workshops should be turned into a regular feature as they provide an opportunity of Rirst hand interaction with the taxpayers and other stakeholders. He hoped that the participants would actively participate in the session and would come up with valuable suggestions and feedback. A detailed presentation was given on the withholding agents system of tax collection highlighting the laws and provisions of the WHT agents. Another presentation on FBR’s web portal elaborating the facilities and information provided on the web portal were explained to the audience so they can take full beneRit of the system. This was followed by detailed questions and answers session where the participants highlighted their concerns. Member FATE Riffat Shaheen Qazi and Chief Commissioner RTO Rawalpindi Aftab Ahmed responded to the queries. The participants of the workshop appreciated the initiative of holding these workshops and thanked FBR for providing them with this opportunity of direct interaction with the tax authorities.
— Exclusive Customs Today photos
kARACHi: Collector Muhammad Saleem in a group photo with PCDMA chairman Shaukat Riaz and others.
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CARTOONSSPCEIAL 11
APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
Over 1,000 fake football world Cups seized by Chinese customs
YIWU: In a campaign launched by the Chinese customs authorities to crack down on football-related copyright theft ahead of June’s World Cup tournament in Brazil, customs officials have found 1,020 statuettes, which are not authorised replicas. The fakes, which are convincingly like the real ones, were due to be exported. Customs officials have seized 21,648 fake Brazil World Cup jerseys also. China is manufacturing a million World Cup armadillo mascots – but those are official.
fbR issues Tax Directory for Tax Year 2013 ISLAMABAD
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ederal Board of Revenue has issued Annual Tax Directory containing the names of more than 791,621 taxpayers for Tax Year 2013. The directory reveals names/titles, National Tax Numbers (NTNs) and amount of payment of income tax by return filers including individuals, corporations and Associations of Persons. The tax directory has not revealed the annual income of all taxpayers. The directory has been tabulated from returns filed manually and electronically till April 14, 2014. Manually filed returns have been entered into the system. There may be some discrepancies at the level of filing or data entry. Moreover, a considerable number of manually filed returns could not be entered into the system despite best efforts due to missing identifiers on the returns. Taxpayers are requested to review their return data and if there is any discrepancy in their pub-
lished data or the Return is not available in the Directory, it may be brought to the notice of the Member IR-Policy, FBR House, Constitution Avenue, Islamabad, Phone No: 051-9205221; email address: memberir@Rbr.gov.pk by 15 May 2014. Based on this feedback, the Rinal version of the Directory shall be published by June 30, 2014. Till said date, this Directory may be treated as provisional
edition, the fore word of the directory read. Tax experts have congratulated Federal Board of Revenue to have published a directory for all taxpayers. By doing this FBR has achieved an important milestone in providing access to information to the general public which would be helpful in creating a sense of public awareness, motivation and transparency.
Directory reveals tax paid by top finance officials he tax directory of 791,621 income tax return filers has been published by FBR, which has already unveiled the tax directory of parliamentarians. It has also revealed the amount of income tax paid by important officials. According to the tax directory, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Tariq Bajwa paid Rs 183,734 in income tax. Similarly, Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan having paid Rs
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640,246 in income tax last year. Economic Affairs Division Secretary Nargis Sethi paid Rs 328,179 in income tax. Advisor to the Ministry of Finance Rana Assad Amin paid Rs 493,560 in income tax. FBR’s Inland Revenue Policy Member Shahid Hussain Asad paid Rs 227,015 in income tax. FBR Member Yasmin Saud paid Rs 436,721 in income tax. FBR Member Riffat Shaheen Qazi paid Rs 477,612. FBR Member Shahid Hussain Jatoi paid Rs 236,383. —CT Report
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APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2014
Published by M. F. Riaz, Off. 91, 3rd Flr, Gul Plaza, M.A. Rd., Karachi, for Customs Today and Printed at Dhoom Printing Press Masheer Mahal Building, Off: I. I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi