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ABc certified vol 2 Issue No. 43
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Karachi, tue Nov 11 - mon Nov 17, 2014
SuRpASSINg tARget
The Collectorates of Enforcement South collected customs duty amounting to Rs 1.77b in October, surpassing the revenue target by Rs 316.98m. | See pAge 09 | RecOveRINg RS10.02m
The PRV Cell under the leadership of Appraisement-West Collector Muhammad Saleem recovered Rs 10.02 million in 29 cases in the month of October. See pAge 02 | FAcILItAtINg tAxpAyeRS
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KARACHI
SOHAIL RAB KHAN www.customstoday.com
he Chief Collector-Appraisement (South) Nasir Masroor Ahmed has given the task to the Collector, MCC-Appraisement (West) Muhammad Saleem to formulate a “Customs Clearance Manual” in order to streamline the entire process of clearance. Sources informed Customs Today that the authorities concerned of Pakistan Customs have decided to prepare such manual to ease and simplify the clearance process from top to bottom. The sources further disclosed that the Collector MCC-Appraisement (West) Muhammad Saleem has convened the meeting of all five additional collectors, deputy collectors and assistant collectors at his office in order to set up a guideline in connection with the preparation of “Customs Clearance Manual” and take their inputs in this regard. The sources further said that the formulation of Customs
FORMULATION OF CUSTOMS
CLEARANCEMANUAL INTHEOFFING Customs Clearance Manual will cover each and every aspect of Customs clearance, including examination, warehouse, clearance of imported consignments
Proper valuation, neat collection and taxpayers’facilitation are top priority of Model Customs Collectorate of AppraisementEast, says Collector Najeeb. | See pAge O3 | SeIzINg gOOdS
ASO seized Rs 61m smuggled goods in 12 cases in Oct against Rs19m in 27 cases in same period of corresponding year. | See pAge 09 |
Regd. No, mc-1381
— Exclusive Customs Today photos
Clearance Manual is indeed a lengthy process and it would take at least two months to get materialised. “The Collectorate has started its work on preparing such manuel by collecting and studying previous standing orders, ofMice orders and public orders”, sources revealed. To a query, the sources further said that the Customs Clearance Manual will cover each and every aspect of the Customs clearance including examination, warehouse, clearance of imported consignments and other necessary requirements and will eliminate the glitches from the clearance system. Responding to another query, the sources further disclosed that the said clearance manual will also bring overall clearance system into legal frame of work. The sources further revealed that the foreign countries setup including India, Indonesia and United States are also being studied in connection with the preparation of “Customs Clearance Manual”. It may be mentioned here that no “Customs Clearance Manual” was introduced for last 25 years or so and if the current regime of Pakistan Customs is succeeded to introduce the said “Customs Clearance Manual”, it would be a great achievement of the authorities concerned of Pakistan Customs.
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NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
Importers, exporters feel difficulty in new tax forms
Karachi: Like extension in date of submitting tax returns, the Federal Board of Revenue should also change the tax returns forms for the convenience of the public, said importers and exporters. They told customs today that "they feel difficulties in filling forms due to tough methods. They said that the same case is with the income tax lawyers and the commissioner. "In this situation, many tax payers will not be able to submit forms, thus the tax forms must be easy, so that everyone can submit it in time," they said.
Port Qasim surpasses revenue target by Rs1027m, customs duty by Rs681m KARACHI
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customs Appraisement-west surpasses target by Rs 2.8 billion Customs PRV Cell recovers Rs10.02 million
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Rice exporters demand 20% cut in shipping fares KARACHI
wAQAR AHmed ANSARI www.customstoday.com
he Rice Exporters Association Pakistan have demanded cut in fares of shipping companies. Talking to Customs Today, Rice Exporters Association Pakistan Fareeq Salman said goods transporters have reduced five percent fares which is not justified. He demanded 20 percent cut in fares. He urged the government to facilitate rice exporters fares of containers. He appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the situation and bound transporters to reduce fares by 20 percent.
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SOHAIL RAB KHAN www.customstoday.com
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he Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement-West has collected revenue of Rs 17.92 billion in October under different heads, including Custom Duty (CD), Sales Tax (ST), Federal Excise Duty (FED) and Income Tax (IT). According to details, the MCC Appraisement-West has collected Rs 17.92 billion in October against Rs 15.11 billion target, surpassing the revenue target by Rs 2.8 billion. As per the revenue statistics, the MCC Appraisement-West has collected Rs 6.13 billion in share of Custom Duty against a target of Rs 5.60 billion with an increase of Rs 525.16 million. The MCC Appraisement-West has collected revenue of Rs 8.64 billion in share of Sales Tax in the month of Oct against its set target of Rs 6.66 billion with an increase of Rs 1.979 billion. Similarly, the MCC-AppraisementWest has collected revenue of Rs 115.20 million in share of FED in the month of October against Rs 134.24 million target with a decrease of Rs 19.04 million. The MCC-Appraisement-West has collected revenue of Rs 3.035 billion in share of Income Tax in the month of October against its set target of Rs 2.71 billion with an increase of Rs 319.11 million.
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
he Model Customs Collectorate Port Qasim has collected revenue of Rs 21837.29 million in the month of October 2014 in share of different heads including Customs Duty (CD), Sales Tax (ST), Federal Excise Duty (FED) and Income Tax (IT). According to details, MCC Port Qasim has collected revenue of Rs 21837.29 million in the month of October 2014 against its target of Rs 20809.91 million and surpassed the revenue target for the month of October by Rs 1027.38 million. As per the revenue statistics, the MCC-Port Qasim has collected Rs 5125.41million in share of Customs Duty against its target of Rs 4444.36 million with an increase of Rs 681.05 million. The MCC-Port Qasim has collected revenue of Rs 13566.68 million in share of Sales Tax in the month of Oct against its set target of Rs 13525.88 million with an increase of Rs 40.80 million. Similarly, the MCC Port Qasim has collected revenue of Rs226.61million in share of FED in the month of Oct against its set target of Rs187.82million with an increase of Rs38.79million. The MCC-Port Muhammad Bin Qasim has collected revenue of Rs2918.59million in share of Income Tax in the month of Oct against its set target of Rs2651.85million with an increase of Rs266.74million. The authorities concerned have expressed their satisfaction over the revenue collection of MCC-Port Qasim for the month of Oct-2014 and hoped that the Collectorate will continue such efforts for achieving revenue targets in the future as well.
collector muhammad Saleem The MCC Appraisement-West has forwarded the revenue collection Migures for the month of October-2014 to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters and the authorities concerned have expressed their satisfaction over the revenue collection. Meanwhile, the Post Release VeriMication (PRV) Cell under the leadership of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement-West Collector Muhammad Saleem, has recovered an amount of Rs 10.02 million from some 29 cases in the month of Octo-
ber 2014. According to details, the PRV Cell of MCC-Appraisement (West) has recovered an amount of Rs0.59 million through a Goods Declaration (GD) No 27372; recovered an amount of Rs0.94 through a GD No4816; recovered an amount of Rs0.94 through a GD No 361. The PRV Section has recovered an amount of Rs0.19 through a GD No7308; recovered an amount of Rs0.127 through a GD No30808; recovered an amount of Rs 40919 through a GD No24821.
IMF likely to give new targets to FBR ISLAMABAD
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he International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to give new targets to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on improvement of performance in revenue collections and administration for continuation of IMF programme started last year. Under the programme performance of four to Mive organisations was to be monitored. The organisations included FBR, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Finance Ministry (FM). The organisations which were getting subsidy from the government also fell in the category. “In this regard very crucial meetings are underway in Dubai where Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa and Member Customs Nisar Muhammad Khan are brieMing IMF about the achievements made by FBR,” a source told Customs Today. “Normally, well-prepared delegations from ministries or departments attend sessions of talks of vital nature where Minancial assistance is involved, but FBR preferred only two member delegation, perhaps in a sense of overconMidence of concerned ofMicials” the source also said. He said that the IMF was happy with the performance of FBR on the issue of search of new taxpayers as well as volume of revenue
Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa and Member Customs Nisar Khan hold meetings with IMF in Dubai
collected from new taxpayers which was Rs 640 million. However, the FBR needed to do more in this regard because issuance of notices to new taxpayers alone was not going to produce desired results. “Therefore, tax collection from new taxpayers is also must along with serving notices to them,” he added. The source said that it would be very difMicult for the FBR Member Customs to defend weak administration and enforcement as well as weak coordination between Customs and Inland Revenue departments at import stage. “Almost four types of taxes, including customs duty, sales tax, income tax and withholding taxes are collected at ports from imports of goods,” he said, adding that administration was very weak at ports due to several reasons, including weak enforcement of Customs and Inland Revenue and no proper audit of their activities, resultantly both of the departments were working to beneMit the taxpayer without taking care of interests of national kitty. Moreover, the source said that there was also a weak coordination between both the departments at ports regarding collection of tax from the importers, therefore, quarters concerned were also deliberating on the policy to appoint two ofMicers of both the departments at the same time to check under or over invoicing by the taxpayer.
The Section has also recovered an amount of Rs 61863 through a GD No15306; recovered an amount of Rs0.15 through a GD No 20085; recovered an amount of Rs 0.42 through a GD No 33783. The PRV Cell has recovered an amount of Rs 0.41 through a GD No11216; recovered an amount of Rs 0.63 through a GD No 36064; recovered an amount of Rs 0.679687 through a GD No 27372; recovered an amount of Rs 0.318750 through a GD No 3682. The Section has also recovered an amount of Rs 1.17 through a GD No7308; recovered an amount of Rs 0.79 from a GD No 33783; recovered an amount of Rs 0.40 from a GD No 42429; recovered an amount of Rs 56365 from a GD No134940. It has also recovered an amount of Rs 61287 from a GD No 0.13; recovered an amount of Rs0.34 from a GD No45363; recovered an amount of Rs 29254 from a GD No41054. The PRV Cell has also recovered an amount of Rs 0.13 from a GD No 10631; recovered an amount of Rs 0.95 from a GD No 5694; recovered an amount of Rs 18671 from a GD No 7403. It has also recovered an amount of Rs 41702 from a GD No 7354; recovered an amount of Rs 15767 from a GD No 4600; recovered an amount of Rs 0.14 from a GD No 25440. The PRV Cell has also recovered an amount of Rs 29254 from a GD No 41054; recovered an amount of Rs0.1006 from a GD No 33259 and recovered an amount of Rs 0.19 from a GD No 166125.
excise dept captures 150 tax defaulter vehicles he Excise and Taxation Lahore Motor Registration Authority captured as many as 150 registration papers of token tax defaulter vehicles here the other day. Excise staffs under the supervision of Director Imran Aslam Lahore region (C) held the vehicles to check token tax at different check posts at Shahdara, Mall Road, Johar Town, Model Town Faisal Town and Multan Road. During checking of token tax, officials confiscated as many as 150 registration papers of the token tax evader vehicles. It is important to mention here that E&T department had given time until September 30 to pay tax with 5 percent surcharge. After September 30, it was strongly directed to the officials to impound the tax defaulter vehicles by the authorities concerned. Aslam said that crackdown against token tax evaders would be conducted on daily basis. —CT Report
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NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
Finance ministry denies taking AdB’s dictation
ISLAMABAD: Finance Ministry has categorically ruled out receiving any directions from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on controlling power and gas theft, saying, nothing officially in this regards has been conveyed to the government. “However, the government has an understanding with ADB to reduce distribution and transmission losses substantially under the sustainable energy sector reform program” a well placed official source disclosed to this scribe.
Chief Collector Burki resumes office LAHORE
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taxpayers’ facilitation top priority: collector Najeeb Appraisement-East collects Rs 18.35 billion revenue in October KARACHI
Syed muHAmmAd ASLAm
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
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ustoms Central Region Chief Collector Rozi Khan Burki resumed office after a 10-day official tour of Tehran. The chief collector had gone to Iran on official business, including a twoday training programme. Sources said that heads of other agencies, including the Anti-Narcotics Force, Pakistan Coast Guard also participated in the programme to control the cross-border movement of drugs and illegal goods. The chief collector held an emergent meeting with Collector of Customs Preventive Mukaram Jah, Collector of Customs Appraisement Muhammad Zahid Khokhar and Deputy Collector Abbas Ali Babar. The officials discussed current position of revenue collection and issued instructions in this regard.
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roper valuation, neat collection and taxpayers facilitation are top priority of Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement-East. Highly-placed sources in the Collectorate told Customs Today that since valuation is susceptible to manipulation it is an area of acute focus for the Customs. Correct classiMication as well as ascertaining of description do not only ensure speedy clearance of consignments but also help lessen the chances of escaping payment for whatever reasons, the sources added. As is, the sources further informed Customs Today, 40 percent of the consignments are examined, cleared and allowed to release within seven minutes; another 45 percent are cleared within 24 hours while only about 15 percent take longer than a day for clearance and the majority of consignments get cleared within 3 days. This already efMicient dwell time- the duration starting with the Miling of document, the examination of consignments and Minally the issuance of the ‘Gate Out’ for release of goods- efMiciency at Appraisement-East would further get better with the automation of the examination manual expected to be launched by end of this year or during early January 2015, sources informed Customs Today. Collector MCC of ApparisementEast Najeeb R Abbasi chaired a
collector Najeebur Rehman Abbasi
the collectorate has achieved 97.57 percent of Rs 18.84 billion target fixed for the month meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the technicalities about the examination manual project. The meeting attended by Assistant Collectors, Deputy Collectors, Principal Appraisers and Appraisers of the Collectorate discussed the issues about how Examination Manual would address the automation
environment. The MCC Apparisement-East is taking input from the other Collectorates and it is also discussing the drafting issue with them, sources said. The Examination Manual would help provide guidelines for importers as well as to the examination staff in an automated environment to help
facilitate taxpayers better and improve an already efMicient dwell time even better. Decreasing the dwell time means lessening the hassle on the one hand and turning the processes much more transparent to provide better facilitation to taxpayers which makes the top priority list of the Collectorate, the sources added. Meanwhile, the Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement-East has collected over Rs 18.35 billion revenue during October. The collectorate has achieved 97.57 percent of Rs 18.84 billion target Mixed for the month. The collectorate collected Rs 5.08 billion customs duty (CD), Rs 9.97 billion sales tax (ST), Rs 3.22 billion withholding tax (WT) and Rs 74.82 million federal excise duty (FED). The collectorate exceeded the CD target by 5.82 percent, but managed to achieve 94.64 percent of the ST target; 97.65 percent of the WT target and 43.9 percent of the target Mixed for FED. The Collectorate managed to collect 92.91 percent of the overall target during the Mirst 30 days, but managed to push it to 97.57 percent by collecting Rs 875.36 million on the last day of the month. October 2, 10 and 23 were the three top revenue collection days for the collectorate. Over Rs 1.707 billion and over Rs 1.041 billion were collected on the 10th and 23rd day of the month respectively. While over Rs 975.32 million was collected on October 2. During the Mirst quarter of the current Miscal year, the MCC Appraisement-East collected cumulative revenue of over Rs 71.50 billion, Rs 19.71 billion in CD, Rs 38.54 billion in ST, Rs 12.84 billion WHT and Rs 482 million FED.
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NATIONAL
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
customs seizes 400 Iranian blankets
MULTAN: Customs Intelligence and Investigation has recovered 400 blankets of Iranian origin and spare parts in a raid. Customs Inspector Rana Anwar, Hafiz Muhammad Younas, Saleem Afzal and constable Zulfiqar raided a truck near Khanewal road on the tip off an informer. The recovered smuggled goods valued worth Rs 2 million were seized on non-availability of documents to prove their import. Customs I&I seized goods and lodged FIR against culprits. Further investigations were in process against the seized goods and culprits.
commerceministry cautiousinsigningFtAs,ptAs T
Commerce Ministry gears up efforts to reduce trade deficit
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muHAmmAd ARSHAd www.customstoday.com
Agp expedites annual audit of collectorates he Central Revenue Receipt Audit (CRA), a wing of the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR), has expedited working for early completion of the annual audit of field formation Collectorates for the fiscal year 2013-14, it is learnt here. Sources informed CustomsToday that the authorities have issued clear directives to the CRA to complete the audit of the Collectorates for the fiscal year 2013-14 and send reports to the relevant authorities. Sources in Central Revenue Receipt Audit (CRA) informed CustomsToday that the officials are conducting the audit of the auction zones of the Collectorates and will complete the entire exercise as soon as possible. They further revealed that the customs officials were not interested towards providing the required details by the CRA and late response towards the officials is creating delay in carryout the audit. —CT Report
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Customs transfers suspended SPS he Superintendent Preventive Service (SPS) Najam Hameed has been transferred to Model Customs Collectorate of Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, sources told CustomsToday. It may be mentioned here that SPS Najam Hameed, who was suspended vide a notification dated September 12 issued by Secretary Mgt (Custom III) GOP (Revenue Division) FBR, had moved Sindh High Court against his suspension. The Court has suspended the impugned notification. Sources also disclosed that SPS Javed Mughal has also been transferred to unacmpanied baggage department atWestWharf while another colleague of Najam Hameed, SPS Zarrar Bin Azmat has also been transferred to Drug Enforcement Cell at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. —CT Report
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— Exclusive Customs Today photo
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ue to the adverse impacts on Pakistan’s trade balance with other countries, the Commerce Ministry is cautious in signing further Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with other countries. Pakistan signed FTAs with SAARC on January 2004, Sri Lanka on June 12, 2005, China on November 2006, and with Malaysia on November 2007. Pakistan signed PTA with Mauritius on July 30, 2007 at Port Louis. A ministry source said that clauses and conditions agreed in these agreements did not guard Pakistani trade interests, resultantly; trade balance with these countries went in their favour. “Moreover, there was no restriction on volume of imports from these countries to Pakistan. Consequently, Pakistani exporters without caring the interests of local industrial sector, went on importing those items which casted negative impacts on Pakistani local industry,” the source said. Therefore, the source said that the Commerce Ministry was cautious about the adverse impacts of the FTAs and PTAs. “The ministry is looking into each and every clause of agreements and will try to finalise conditions of agreements while taking full perspective of their possible
impacts on local trade, investment and industrial sector,” he added. He said that the ministry had taken input from the National Tariff Commission (NTC) on FTAs. For example: the ministry incorporated provisions in Chapter V (Trade Remedies) under Article 52 Anti-Dumping, Article 53 Subsides and Countervailing Measures, Article 54-Bilateral Safeguard Measures and Article 55-Global Safeguard Measures in Pak-Malaysia FTA. “The relevant provisions failing within the mandate of NTC were incorporated in agreements with
above countries under the chapters/articles relating to trade remedies, including anti-dumping subsides and countervailing measures, bilateral safeguard measures and global safeguard measures,” the source added. The cabinet ratified PTA with Mauritius on 30 October 2007. Under the agreement, Pakistan offered concessions to Mauritius on 130 items/ tariff lines i.e. 1.9 percent of its total existing national tariff lines, whereas Mauritius has given concession on 102 items/tariff lines i.e. 1.64 percent of its total existing national tariff lines.
he Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has taken numerous measures to reduce trade deficit and to have positive trade balance with every trading partner. Following the MoC’s initiatives, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has arranged trade fairs and exhibition to promote Pakistani exports andTDAP took Pakistani exporters to 10 exhibitions in USA alone during 2013-14. An official source at MoC told this scribe here on Saturday that although it was not feasible for any country to have positive trade balance with every trading partner yet the lone option in the view of MoC was to address the issue of negative trade balance by enhancing exports. Therefore the MoC following the guidelines of Government, has taken numerous initiatives to enhance exports,” the source said, adding that Pakistani exports to the European Union (EU) increased by $ 333 million during the period Jan-April, 2014 due to preferential treatment given to Pakistani products under GSP Plus Scheme for which Pakistan became eligible in 2013. Similarly, the source said that the government facilitated the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian States on exploring and utilizing the vast potential of investment and trade in the region.“Pakistan is also a part of agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area, an initiative which aims to promote regional trade,” the official source further added, saying that Pakistan China FreeTrade Agreement, which was effective since 2007 also increased trade between the two neighbors, consequently the bilateral trade increased from $ 3 billion to $9b annually. —CT Report
Lahore Customs Preventive reshuffles 330 officials LAHORE
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he Model Customs Collectorate Preventive has undertaken large-scale transfers and postings at all stations, including headquarters and air freight and land fright units. The collectorate transferred and posted at least 120 customs superintendents, deputy superintendent and 220 inspectors. The collectorate has not only posted and transferred the ofMicials but also named them for other assignments. As per details, the collectorate transferred and posted superintendents and eight deputy superintendents, including Mumtaz Ajmal Mian, Pir Zada Rahat Aziz, Saadat Buland Khan, Saleem Tahir Shahzad Akhtar Mehmood, Muhammad Aslam, Mazhar Abbas Bhuttar, Saleem Akhtar, Saleem Chaudhry Shahfqat Raza, Zaheer
Hussain Abdul Hamid Afridi and Habib Hussain Bhatti at the Customs House Headquarters. The collectorate reshufMled 12 superintendents and 14 deputy superintendents at the export section, Gerry shed, PIA shed, recovery branch, refund and rebate branch, Royal and Shaheen sheds, unaccompanied baggage, admin branch, bank guarantee import and law branch at the Air Fright Unit. The superintendents and deputy superintendents included Naeemullah, Imtiaz Hussain Khan, Malik Yasin, Aslam Bhatti, Alamdar Hussain Tirmizi, Zia Ashfaq, Rana Ali Naseer, Mirza Waqar Ahmad Baig, Fayyaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Nasir mehmood Tarar, Ejaz Shaheen, and Rafiq Ahmad Bhatti. The collectorate also transferred and posted deputy superintendents, including Agha Qadeer Haider, Ali Amjad Jaffri, Khawaja Sabahat Saeed, Mazhar Abbas Shah, Zaheer Chaudhry, Hassan
Abbas Bukhari, Zahid Hussain, Zahoor Ahmad Joiya, Asghar, Yousaf Khan, Farhat Hussain Bukhari, Khalid Khan, Javaid Mehmood Qureshi and Manzoor Hussain Gill at the AFU. Superintendents and deputy superintendents at airport were also reshufMled. The superintendents transferred and posted were Ahmad Iqbal Bhatti, Amjad Ali Chaudhry, Mian Faheem, Idrees Sheikh, Shahid Mehmood, Waqar Ahmad Cheema, Waqar Yousuf, Zahid Touqeer Azhar and ZulMiqar Ahmad Chaudhry. The deputy superintendents Abdul Shakoor, Amjad Ali, Habibullah Khan, Malik Rab Nawaz, Maqsood Ahmad, Muhammad Afzal, Arshad, Aslam Khan, Naseer Khan, Nasir Mumtaz Khan, Rizwan Shaheen and Syed Asad Raza Baqri were transferred and posted at the Airport TrafMic. The superintendents and deputy superintendents that were reshufMled at Land Freight Unit
Wahga, PFC Wahga, railway station, T-10, included Attaur Rehman, Bushra Naeem, Nasir Minhas, Tanveerul Hassan, Manzoor Ali Bhatti, Zahid Irshad Cheema, Arshad Iqbal, Shahid Hamid Butt, Shafqat Mehmood and Tariq Amin. In the same way, the collectorate undertook transfers and postings of the following deputy superintendent including Abdul Naeem, Amjad Khaliq, Ghulam Jaffar, Musheer Ahmad, Naveed Ahsan, Safdar Ali Ijaz, Ali Raza Khan, Khawaja Muhammad Bilal, Aslam Shakeel, Sohail Anwar, Abdul Sami Butt, Jahangir Raza, Mujahid Hussain Shah, Irfan Khalid, Javaid Iqbal, Mansoor Anwar, Syed Akhtar Joiya, Hussnain Ahmad and Khalid Zaidi. In addition to the transfers and postings of the superintendents and deputy superintendents, the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement also reshufMled at least 220 customs inspectors at all stations, including Wahga, headquarters and airport.
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SPECIALREPORT
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
LAHORE
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ighlighting performance of the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA), Punjab Finance, Excise, Taxation and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman on Monday said that the authority had collected Rs 48 billion last year and they were looking forward to collecting Rs 80 billion in the current financial year. Talking exclusively to Customs Today, he said the government was all set to make property tax collection flawless, especially after the recent overcharging by the Excise and Taxation Department. The minister said the provincial government has not increased taxes
arising in property taxes collection we have set up a comprehensive system of help lines throughout the province, enabling the taxpayers to get information from the main offices of the Excise And Taxation Department,” the minister highlighted, adding that these help lines would come in handy for the property taxpayers in the far-flung areas of the province. “In this regard I immediately told the people not to receive the notices until the audit is completed,” said, adding that, excise authorities were also instructed to maintain close contact with chambers of commerce and trade organisations to resolve the problems of the people regarding wrong property tax notices. He hoped that the measures would help the government to re-
hawalpur, DG Khan, Hasilpur and Jhang. “We are also going to set up an Anti-Narcotics Wing in Excise and Taxation Department following the approval of the Punjab chief minister. The project will be operational in one or two months.” Talking about vehicle token tax, he said that the Excise and Taxation Department had not revised the tax for the last 10 years. “Up to 1000CC vehicles come under the head of life-time token taxes and further we have not increased any taxes. Actually the federal government has imposed withholding tax in all the provinces. “Due to this reason it is widely being considered that the provincial government has increased vehicle token tax which is not correct. How-
we are also going to set up an Anti-Narcotics wing in excise and taxation department following the approval of the punjab chief minister. the project will be operational in a few months
we have halted collection of property taxes at the places where no municipal service is available
on the vehicles rather it was collecting withholding tax (WHT) levied by the federal government. The WHT was being deposited in the federal government’s kitty, he added. The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) is doing well as it has become one of the major tax collection houses. The minister talked at length on various taxes, including excise tax on vehicles, property and services taxes. “We have halted collection of property taxes at the places where no municipal service is available. In order to tackle issues
solve complaints regarding overbilling. Recently, the department had come to know that officials had overcharged property holders in the name of property tax, he said. “The Excise and Taxation Department increased 50 percent property tax while the taxpayers have been asked to pay more than that in the name of revision,” said the minister. He added that the government has taken far-reaching steps to tackle with the issue and the officials responsible for overcharging the taxpayers have been suspended. Mujtaba added a large scale reshuffling of the staff has also been undertaken in Hafizabad, Mianwali, Rawalpindi, Chiniot, Mianwali, Ba-
ever, we are going to take up the issue with the federal government,” he clarified. He hoped the measure would help the government to avoid complaints like overbilling to the taxpayers of property tax in future. Highlighting performance of Punjab Revenue Authority, he said that the authority has become one of the major tax collecting bodies of the province as it has contributed a big chunk of revenue to the provincial exchequer. “Last year, the authority collected Rs 48 billion and we are looking forward to collect Rs 80 billion in the current financial year and all possible efforts are being made to hit the target,” the minister concluded.
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
SPECIALREPORT 07
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
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08 EDITORIAL
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
Founder & Chairman zulfiqar Ali Editor Rahil yasin editor@customstoday.com.pk For advertising & subscription marketing@customstoday.com.pk +92-300-4009261 www.customstoday.com Phones: 042-35781643-4, Fax: 042-35781645 Address: 627, Siddiq Trade Centre, Gulberg, Lahore
edItORIAL
Banking on ImF loan
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he Finance Ministry expects a breakthrough in talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Dubai for the issuance of $100 million installment, hoping that the money will soon be delivered to Islamabad. According to newspaper reports, the talks are going to be held in November 7 in the backdrop of $6.64 billion assistance programme for Pakistan. The government has already discussed in detail the three conditions laid down by the donor agency for the issuance of the loan. On another note, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar says that the Pakistani negotiating team is leaving for Dubai to discuss fifth and sixth installments for the loan amounting to $1.1 billion. The Finance Ministry claims that it is fully prepared to remove all the possible bottlenecks which would come in the way of the issuance of the loan. The first point that the IMF could raise is its reservations on the opposition’s objections to the privatisation of the Oil and Gas Development Company as the government is going to offer 7.5 percent shares to the private investors. To meet another IMF condition, the government has tactfully withdrawn subsidy on electricity amounting to Rs 27 billion. According to Customs Today report, the Ministry of Water and Power has incorporated a surcharge of Rs1.50 per unit in electricity bills to cut the subsidy. Besides, the government has imposed Re 0.30 per unit circular debt tax and Rs 1.05 electricity equalisation surcharge and the IMF officials will be apprised of the government steps in the talks. The surcharge has been enforced with effect from October 1 and it will continue to burden the electricity consumers until July 31, 2015. The point to ponder is that the government is spending millions of rupees on visits and discussions to get the IMF loans without blocking the loopholes in the administrative system through which billions of dollars hardearned money is siphoned off every year. The official machinery should have noted that five or six billion dollars is not a big amount to become a debt servitude. Instead, a drastic cleansing drive is indispensable to purge the government departments of black sheep.
tax collection target LAHORE
dR AFtAB AFzAL
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he year book 2013-14 issued by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) shows four percent growth in development and tax collection, but recorded a shortfall of Rs 209 billion in its revenue target set for the specified year. The FBR had collected Rs 2,266 billion during the previous year against a target of Rs 2,475 billion, falling short of Rs 209 billion. However, the board collected 16 percent more tax revenue than the previous fiscal year while it collected Rs 884 billion in the terms of direct taxes. According to a news report issued by Customs Today, increase in value of rupee has pushed net col-
lection of customs duty up by around one percent in fiscal year 2013-14. The FBR report also shows that the customs duty has contributed around 17.4 percent and 10.6 percent in the indirect taxes and federal taxes, respectively during 2013-14. The base of the customs duty is dutiable imports, which count for nearly 38 percent of the total imports during the year and any fluctuation in the tax base affects the collection of customs duty. Though duty free imports have grown by 5.9 percent, the dutiable imports show a growth of 7.6 percent, paving the way for the gross collection of Rs 249.7 billion from customs duties. However, the net collections remained Rs 241 billion as Rs 8.7 billion had been paid back as re-
the base of the customs duty is dutiable imports, which count for nearly 38 percent of the total imports during the year
funds/rebates during the year. The net collection of customs duty has recorded nearly 1 percent growth. According to experts, there is a need to give relief on petroleum, machinery and edible oil to encourage private sector to meet its energy and technological requirements and concessions in edible oil will benefit the poor segments of society. The vehicles, which are used for goods transportation and white collar classes, also deserve duty relief. However, the fact remains that the more relaxation to the business community to generate more revenue. In the current scenario, petrol and oil are major revenue generation sources for the government and it is necessary to revise this policy by resorting to other options of revenue collection.
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NATIONAL 09
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
Faisalabad division gets 14 excise inspectors
LAHORE: As many as 14 excise inspectors, including seven women, have been appointed in Faisalabad division. According to Director Excise Rana Intikhab, the inspectors have been appointed in Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Chiniot and Faisalabad districts. Roy Shahzad, Kashif Mirza, Yaqoob, Uzma Majeed. Sidra, Mehwish, Rashida and Sadia Nazeer have been appointed in Faisalabad district while Asma Batool has been appointed in Jhang district.
ASO seizes record high Rs61m smuggled goods in Oct — Exclusive Customs Today photo
Enforcement-South surpasses target by Rs 316.9 million
chief collector Nazim Saleem he Collectorates of MCC-Preventive, MCCHyderabad, MCC-Exports, MCC-Exports (Port Muhammad Bin Qasim), MCC-Quetta and MCC-Gwadar of Enforcement (SouthRegion) have collected customs duty amounting to Rs 1.77 billion in October, surpassing the revenue target by Rs 316.98m. According to details, the MCC-Preventive has collected Rs 1.14 billion in term of customs duty in the month of October-2014 against its set target of Rs 1.06 billion with an increase of Rs 89.14 million. The MCC-Hyderabad has collected an amount of Rs 266.11 million in term of customs duty against its set target of Rs 379.39 million with a shortfall of Rs 113.28 million. The MCC-Export has collected an amount of Rs 560.49 million in share of customs duty against the set target of Rs 398.03 million with a huge increase of Rs 162.46 million.The Export (Port Muhammad Bin Qasim) has collected an amount of Rs 132.49 million in share of customs duty against its set target of Rs 498.40 million with a massive decrease of Rs 365.91million. Furthermore, the MCC-Quetta has collected an amount of Rs 73.32 million in share of customs duty against its set target of Rs 79.87 million with a slight shortfall of Rs 6.55 million. —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: newsdesk@customstoday.com.pk
Collector of Customs Preventive Mukarram Jah has framed zero-tolerance policy against smuggling LAHORE
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he Anti-Smuggling Organisation (ASO) has seized Rs 61 million smuggled and non-customs paid goods in 12 cases in October FY 2014-15 against Rs 19 million in 27 cases in the same period of the corresponding year. In addition the anti-smuggling unit also seized Rs 22.5 million contraband goods and investigation is underway in this regard. The market value of both the seized and detained goods and articles exceeds Rs 150 million which included one mega seizure of curtain cloth of Rs 55 million, an ofMicial said. The seizure of the curtain cloth is said to be a wonderful job done by the ASO. Sources said that the illegal transportation of the curtain cloth on such a huge scale was damaging the business activities of the genuine businessmen and ultimately inMlicting heavy losses to the national exchequer. The Customs Investigation and Prosecution Department has lodged a Mirst information report (FIR) and initiated investigation to curb the smuggling of the curtain cloth in the future. Seeking anonymity, a customs ofMicial told Customs Today that Collector of Customs Preventive Mukarram Jah has framed a zero-tolerance policy against the smuggling activities in the city which is resulting in
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
collector mukarram Jah
The seizures were undertaken on instructions of Collector Mukarram Jah under the supervision of DC Shafiqur Rehman
major seizures and detention in this regard. He said that the collector was guiding the ASO ofMicials in periodical meetings to eradicate smuggling. Jah has instructed them to come hard on the smugglers without any exception. According to details, during October the ASO seized 400 bags of red chillies, 10 bundles of jersey ceramics cloth and 122,982 kg worth Rs 55 million. Similarly, the ASO seized truck tyres worth Rs 50,000 and 152 cartons of toiletries worth Rs 1.5 million. In other four cases, the ASO conMiscated 1,200 kg of permeate powder, 1400 kg of whey powder, 178 car tyres and 370 bags of plastic bags. The ASO also seized 740 plastic granule bags, steel coils of 16,000 kg along with a truck, perfumes along with two Suzuki pickups and 20 Mazda trucks for body tax. The non-customs paid goods were being transported by carrier vehicles including GLT-5350, MDXA267, JY-4448, LHO-8040, RLC-2358, LSE-6749, LSE-3738 and LES-5553. The seizures and detentions were undertaken on the instructions of Collector of Customs Preventive Mukarram Jah under the supervision of Deputy Collector of Customs ShaMiqur Rehman and Mumtaz Ajmal Mian. The inspectors who played a vital role in conMiscating the smuggled items are Khalid Butt, Shahid Bhatti, Javed Iqbal, Irfan Mumtaz, Mazhar and Saleem.
Appeal to bring down duties on spare parts To,
unfair. Although a time period of 30 days is given to the appellant when any valuation advice is issued but no time frame is given to the department to decide the appeal which sometimes results in delaying cases by 6 to 7 months. Issuance of audit notices to commercial importers is also unfair as these importers are already paying 17 percent sales tax and 3 percent additional tax as full and final payment. Karachi Chamber requests you to resolve issues pertaining to customs valuations and audit notices to commercial importers of Motorcycle Spare Parts.
Nisar Muhammad Khan, Member Customs, FBR Islamabad Dear Sir,
The Karachi Chamber supports All Pakistan Motorcycle Spare Parts Importers and Dealers Association’s demand to bring down the exorbitant customs duties on import of motorcycle spare parts with a view to discourage smuggling and create an enabling business environment. Importers of motorcycle spare parts are bound to pay 35 percent customs duty along with 15 percent additional duty, 17 percent sales tax and 3 percent additional tax. Although the government
claims of keeping the customs duty on imported goods limited to not more than 25 percent but the importers of motorcycle spare
parts are paying other additional duties and taxes as well, resulting in raising the overall levies to almost 90 percent which is highly
With profound regards, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, KCCI President, Karachi
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10 NATIONAL
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
pakistan urges Russia to sign preferential and free trade agreements
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has requested the Russian Federation to reconsider signature of preferential trade agreement (PTA) and free trade agreement (FTA). “The Commerce Ministry has moved draft of recommendations to the government for the establishment of Joint Business Council (JBC) with the Russian Federation,” a source at the ministry told Customs Today.
Customs intelligence and ASO seize Iranian ceramic tiles: ADC Nisar
customs seizes united mobile cell phones
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Ac Amjad orders confiscation of Rs 14.5 million Iranian grease — Exclusive Customs Today photo
MULTAN
ImRAN ALI KHAN
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he Multan Customs Intelligence and Investigation and Anti-Smuggling Organisation (ASO) have jointly seized imported tiles worth Rs 5 million during a raid. The intelligence and investigation has received information that a truck (PKJ-127) loaded with imported goods had crossed Dera Ghazi Khan. Both the departments searched the truck near Ghazi Ghaat Bridge in DG Khan. The truck was loaded with Iranian ceramic tiles. The Lahore-bound truck was coming from Quetta. Customs Intelligence and Investigation Additional Director Nisar Ahmad had formed a special team for the operation. Ahmed said, “It was a joint effort. We chased the truck for more than 50 Km. Pak-Iran Border is the main supply line for smuggling. State need to show a strong writ to curb smuggling.” A Mirst information report has been lodged against the smugglers and Inspector Saleem Afzal is leading further interrogation. Meanwhile, Customs Additional Collector Adjudication Amjadur Rehman decided four cases with the conMiscation of Iranian grease worth Rs 14.5 million. The additional collector has
Adc Nisar Ahmed decided the four different cases with the verdict of conMiscation in the hearing of foreign origin POL product packed in used drums. The Mirst seizure case was registered with registration number 59/14. The grease worth Rs 3.6 million was seized from Sher Shah Road. The 53,255 kg Iranian grease was loaded on a Hino truck (TLR 577/Quetta). The second seizure case was registered with a registration number 108/14. Iranian grease
worth Rs 3.64 million was seized from a truck (TLY 986). The third seizure case was registered with a registration number 117/14. An anti-smuggling team seized 280 drums of Iranian grease worth Rs 3.6 million and weighing 53,280 kg from Vehari Road Multan. Fourth seizure case was registered with a registration number 777/14. The Iranian grease weighing 53,280 was loaded on a Hino truck (TLQ 777/Quetta).
he Anti-Smuggling Organisation (ASO) has seized imported cell phones of United Mobile Company in a crackdown. The ASO took into custody the imported cell phones in an operation in the Chowk Ghanta Ghar area. The operation was conducted on a tip-off that a distributor was allegedly involved in the smuggling of imported cell phones. The seized cell phones included O, Voice and Samsung. The company has provided their import documents and the customs officials are verifying them through their international mobile equipment identifier (IMEI) numbers. Customs authorities are of the view that verification of the cell phones would be done after the detection of allegedly tax evasion by the Q-Mobile. Further action will be done after the verification of IMEI numbers of the seized cell phones. —CT Report
The Additional Collector Adjudication ordered conMiscation of the goods after the owners failed to provide evidence. He also ordered conMiscation of three of the four vehicles. Meanwhile, the Anti-Smuggling Organisation has captured 2,450 yards of curtain cloth and 1,500 pullovers in an operation. The ASO has successfully captured 33 rolls of curtain cloth of various colours in a raid from the Khanewal Road Bypass Multan. The ASO has also seized 1,500 foreign pullover smuggled from Iran and seized near Dera Ghazi Khan. The pullovers were loaded on a passenger bus near Dera Ghazi Khan bus terminal. The value of seized goods was assessed as Rs 1 million. Inspector Abdus Samad, Abdus Sattar, Ather Mehmood along with Superintendent Tanvir Ahmad Malik seized the smuggled goods. A Mirst information report has been lodged in this regard. Meanwhile, the Anti-Smuggling Organisation (ASO) has seized an imported vehicle worth Rs 2 million in a crackdown. The ASO has impounded the vehicle Honda Inspire from Askari Colony Cantonment. The model 2014 vehicle bore registration number LEI -8014. The operation was led by Superintendent Tanvir Ahmad Malik. Inspector Haq Nawaz accompanied him. The vehicle was impounded after the owner failed to provide import documents.
2containersworth Rs13mseized he Anti-Smuggling Department of MCC, Faisalabad has seized two containers loaded with cumin and Chili seeds worth Rs 13 million. AntiSmuggling Department Faisalabad senior officerTanver Ahmad told CustomsToday that they had covered both containers from Kamalpur M-3 Motorway Interchange Faisalabad. He added that both the containers were being smuggled from Kashmir to Faisalabad. The value of the smuggled cumin and chili seeds has been estimated Rs 1315m.The Anti-smuggling department has seized the both containers and registered a case. —CT Report
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PakistanexportsgoodsworthRs309millionviaWaghaBorder LAHORE
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akistan has exported goods worth Rs 309 million to India during October 23-31 to India via Wagha Border Lahore. As per available document, Pakistan exported dried fruits, salt, cement, gypsum, cotton, scrap and lime stone etc. The documents showed that 2065 metric ton dried fruits like dates, Migs and guavas worth Rs 98 million were exports. Moreover, 75 metric tons plants and seeds of perfumery Mlora worth Rs 4.3 million were exported to India. Similarly, 38 metric ton vegetables extracts or saps worth Rs 1.8 million. Furthermore, Pakistan has exported 1166 metric ton rock salt to
India worth Rs 3.6 million and gypsum worth Rs 27 million. Besides that Pakistan has exported lime stone worth Rs 2.3 million, cement worth Rs 60 million and aluminum ores worth Rs 3.5 million to India. Pakistan has exported disodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide worth Rs 17 million and Rs 5.2 million respectively. On the other hand, cotton worth Rs 36 million and glass worth Rs 47 million was exported to India. As a whole, Pakistan exported goods worth Rs 309 million with total weight 41990 metric ton to India via Lahore Wagha Border. Meanwhile, Pakistan imported items worth Rs 955 million from India via Wagha border during October 23-31, according to documents available with Customs Today. Pakistan imported tomatoes,
pakistan imports Rs 955m items from India via wagha
garlic and polyethylene, polypropylene and condensers for steam. Pakistan imported 14,685,404 kg tomatoes worth Rs 693 million while Rs 41 million was generated by getting income tax on tomatoes. On the other hand, garlic worth Rs 16 million was imported and Rs 1 million income tax was collected. Documents show that Pakistan imported 1,247,077 kg ginger worth Rs 89 million from India, while the duty tax Rs 13 million and income tax Rs 6 million was collected. Peas worth Rs 3 million, fruits of genius capsicum worth Rs 4.8 million were imported. Carbon dioxide worth Rs 5.2 million was imported. Pakistan received duty tax Rs 0.26 million, sales tax Rs 0.93 million and income tax Rs 0.35 million on import of these items. Pakistan imported polyethylene having gravity less than 0.94 worth
Rs 5 million and polyethylene having gravity 0.94 or more worth Rs 50 million from India via Wagha border. Pakistan customs collected duty, sales tax and income tax of Rs 0.23 million, Rs 0.92 million and Rs 0.39 million respectively on the import of Polyethylene having gravity less than 0.94 while on the import of polyethylene-having gravity 0.94 or more duty Rs 2.5 million, sales tax Rs 9 million was received. Besides that, Pakistan also imported oil-cake and other solid residues worth Rs 33 million, Polyepropylene worth Rs 21 million, Nonwovens and condesers for steam or other vapour power unit. As a whole, Pakistan import stands at Rs 955 million, while total duty tax Rs 20 million, sales tax Rs 17 million and income tax Rs 55 million was collected during October23-31 trading.
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CARTOONSSPECIAL 11
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
court to hear tcS, Smart zone smuggling case this week
ISLAMABAD: The hearing into smuggling case of TCS and Smart Zone would be held next week. The court was supposed to hear the case on 3 November, but it was delayed due to Muharram holidays. Accused TCS regional manager Ghazanfar Gul and Smart Zone CEO Shakirullah are imprisoned in Adiala Jail and have not been able to get bail so far. Shakirullah has, however, moved the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench for his bail. The court will hear his plea on Friday (today).
30 customs officers nominated for 19th mcmc he Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) nominated 30 PCS of BS-18 for 19th Mid Career Management Course (MCMC). the nominated customs officers of BS-18 include: 1. Muhammad Masood Sabir, Second Secretary, Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad 2. Azood-ul-Mehdi, Second Secretary, Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad 3. RehmatullahVistro, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East), Karachi 4. Muhammad Ahsan Khan, Deputy Director, Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation,FBR, Karachi 5. Muhammad Arshad Hayat Chaudary, Second Secretary (Worksing as SO to Chairman), Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad 6. Syed Jawad Ali Shah, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement, Lahore 7. Dr. Ghulam Mustafa, Second Secretary, Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad 8. Muhammad Mumtaz Ali Raza Chaudhry, Deputy Director, Directorate General ofTransit Trade, Karachi 9. Muhammad Shoaib Qazi, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate, Quetta 10. Dr. Noman Khan, Deputy Collector (OPS), Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement
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(West), Karachi 11. Adnan Iqbal Sawati, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, Karachi 12. Mona Iffat Baloch, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Exports, Custom House, Karachi 13. Sadia Sadaf, Deputy Collector, Model Customs
Collectorate of Appraisement (West), Karachi 14. Abbas All Babar, Deputy Collector, Chief Collector Customs (Central), Lahore 15. Asma Hameed, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement, Lahore 16. Yasser Wahab Kalwar, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East), Karachi
WeBOC’s Railways module by year’s end: Director Yousfani
KARACHI
cuStOmS tOdAy RepORt www.customstoday.com
ransshipment of import cargoes from Karachi ports to all the dry ports across the country would be shifted to WeBOC (Web Based One Customs), the computerised clearance system of Pakistan Customs. The WeBOC Railways module is being developed by Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd (PRAL) as per the specifications provided by Directorate of Reforms & Automation, Customs. Since its inception in 1994 as a private limited company, PRAL is a fully owned subsidiary and (Data Arm) of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that caters to the mission-critical applications ICT needs of the board. It has extensive experience of working with federal and provincial tax and revenue agencies to provide wide
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variety of tax and revenue collection solutions. Directorate of Reforms & Automation Director Abdul Majid Yousfani, told Customs Today that WeBOC’s Railways module would be ready for the test launch by the end of this year. The Railways module would help shift the cargo transshipment of cargo from Karachi ports to all the dry ports located elsewhere across the country on WeBOC from the manual One Custom system being used presently, he added. The installation of the Railways module would help save immense amount of time, energy and efforts needed to file the Transshipment Permit for transport of cargo from Karachi ports to dry ports through Railways under bond. The dry ports network across the country comprises Lahore Dry Port; Hyderabad Dry Port; Silakot Dry Port; Peshawar Dry Port; Multan Dry port; Quetta Dry Port; Rawalpindi Dry Port; Faisalabad Dry Port; Larkana Dry Port and Sust Dry Port.
17. Rizwan Mahmood, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East), Karachi 18. Sumaira Omar, Deputy Director, Directorate of Post Clearance Audit, Lahore 19. Zubair Shah, Second Secretary, Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad 20. Tahir Abbas, Deputy Collector, Model
Customs Collectorate of Exports (Port Muhammad Bin Oasim), Karachi 21. Farhat Ali, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate, Multan 22. Ghulam Nabi Kamboh, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (West), Karachi 23. Naghma-e-Tehniat, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate, Islamabad 24. Yousuf All Khan Magsi, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (West), Karachi 25. Kamran Ali Rana, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East), Karachi 26. Ghulam Ali Malik, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate, Islamabad 27. Rizwan Bashir, Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East), Karachi 28. Fahad Ali Chaudhary, Deputy Director, Directorate General of Internal Audit (Customs), Islamabad 29. Dr. Kaukab Farooq, Deputy Collector, Collectorate of Customs (Adjudication), Islamabad 30. Shafiq-ur-Rehman, Deputy Director, Directorate General ofTraining & Research (Customs), Karachi. —CT Report
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12
NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2014
customs R&d surpasses October target
KARACHI: The Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement-East R&D (Research & Development) surpassed the revenue target by Rs 23.302 million in October. The additional revenue came from detection and recovery made by the R&D arm of the Collectorate in 26 cases of GDs (Good Declarations) from various consignments imported by 22 importers. The nature of detections included non-application of Valuation Ruling, mis-declaration of PCT/Value, mis-declaration of value and misuse of SROs.
FBR collects Rs180b in Oct, records 17pc growth Quetta customs collects Rs 980 million revenue
ISLAMABAD
muHAmmAd FAIzAN www.customstoday.com
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ederal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) gross revenue collection stood at Rs180 billion during the month of October this year against Rs156 billion it collected in October 2013, reMlecting a growth of 17 per cent. The FBR has paid refunds/rebates of Rs8 billion during the
month against Rs4 billion paid in last October. The Board has collected Rs750 billion during July-October this year against Rs661 billion in corresponding period of 2013-14. Sources said that during July to October 2014, FBR collected Rs265 billion as direct taxes, Rs355 billion as sales tax, Rs47 billion as federal excise duty and Rs86 billion customs duty. The gross revenue collection during July-October this year amounted to Rs750 billion against Rs661 billion in the corresponding period of
2013-14. The FBR has paid refunds of Rs29 billion during the period under review against Rs24 billion in the same period of Miscal year 2013. The net revenue collection stood at Rs 724 billion during July-October (2014-15) against Rs 637 billion in the same period of 2013-14, showing a growth of 14 percent. Meanwhile, Customs Collectorate, Quetta has collected an amount of Rs 980 million revenue in share of Customs Duty (CD), Sales Tax (ST), Withholding Tax and Federal Excise Duty (FED) in the months of July to October, 2014,
more than 20 percent collected in same period in 2013, Collector Customs Zahoor Akhtar Raja said. He said that Customs personnel deployed at Baleli Check post have also seized morphine worth 630 million, Iranian diesel amounting 20 million in 40 different searches. "Customs despite having issues of acute shortage of manpower is striving hard to curb smuggling and strengthen the economy through collecting revenue in various heads," he maintained. There is acute shortage of manpower in Balochistan, he said, adding the chief collector has
been informed about the vacant posts of ACs, DCs and others hampering work of the Customs in Balochistan. It may be mentioned here that Quetta region was appreciated in recent revenue meeting held in Karachi for achieving its target. Quetta was the only Collectorate which deposited more revenue than the target. “Pak-Iran Border Trade Committee, after the gap of four year held its meeting in Quetta which would improve bilateral trade between both the countries,” Raja Akhtar said.
FBR to carry on tax-exempt status of FwO KARACHI
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oeing the government’s line, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is expected to carry on the taxexempt status of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO). “In the prevailing political scenario, the government is desirous of the Federal Board of Revenue to continue income tax exemption for the Frontier Works Organisation and deliberations are underway at quarters concerned of the FBR,” an FBR source told Customs Today. He added that the FWO, enjoyed
tax exemption which is being renewed yearly. Whereas the private companies have to pay minimum 34 percent income tax which disables them from floating bids in the construction of roads and highways of the National Highway Authority (NHA). The source said the government was pressing the FBR to slap no taxes on the FWO in the future. “The NHA has sought opinion from the FBR about the status of the FWO; whether it is a government organisation or not so that the NHA may or may not deduct tax from payable amount to the FWO,” the source said, adding that the FBR has ascertained
FBR thinks FWO is not entitled to IT exemption, but govt is pressing the board to keep FWO out of taxes
the FWO status by going through documents presented by the FWO. “The FBR established opinion that the FWO is a company functioning under Companies Ordinance 1984 and is not entitled to income tax exemption. Therefore withholding tax and other taxes must apply on it,” the source said. He observed that the NHA had sought explanation from the Regional Tax Officer (RTO) Rawalpindi in this regard. The RTO sought guidance from the FBR on the matter. “However, the FWO is adamant that it is a government organisation and is entitled to income tax and other tax exemption,” he said.
The source said that tax exemption to the FWO had disabled private construction companies from floating bids on competitive rates, adding that it had been a practice that the FWO would sublet the contracts to private contractors after winning them from the NHA. “However, if the FBR continues tax exemption to the FWO, it will not be appropriate for system as well as an environment of competitiveness in the business,” he said, adding that quality and competition would be compromised. The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly has also discussed the issue several times.
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