MULTAN, August 25th:Federal Board Boad Revenue's member customs Muhammad Zahid Khokhar has disclosed that an export terminal would be developed at Sadiqbad under CPEC project and a model multi transit Hub was established in Muzaffargarh to facilitate the exporters and importers. Talking to member of Multan Chamber of Commerc & Industry here tonight Zahid Khokhar said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has revised regulatory duty (RD) on the import of 700 items in new financial year. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced a new set of taxes on a long list of 700 goods, including imported vehicles. Under the new Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) 504(I)/2017, up to 60% ad valorem regulatory duty has been placed on the import of new and old cars, jeeps and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).To protect the interest of local ceramic tiles industry,Government had imposed regulatory duty on imported tiles. He admitted that dryports of upcountry .He said that up-country dryports are losing attractions day by day and mostly importers and exporters are using Karachi port.He said that Multan dry port was looking deserted and traders of south Punjab were clearing their consignments from Karachi.consequently,the trade activities were hitting hard in south Punjab . He told that 2500 to 3,000 GD files are being processed daily in Karachi while only 0.7 % work is in Multan.He said that Pakistan Customs has been guarding Pakistani borders against smuggling and facilitating the legal trade.Zahid Khokhar said that the Pakistan Customs has been trying to assist FBR in his revenue collection efforts in the form of duty recovery on goods traded across the borders. “It has also been helping domestic industry to flourish by discouraging illegal import of goods.He hoped that exports and imports would be increased with the upgradation of Multan international airport. He admitted that businessmen were in trouble due to double taxation and we have decided to take up this issue in the meeting of council of common interest (CCI). He disclosed that the ware house surchargewere reduced to 0.25 percent from one percent to facilitate the businesses.He said that Sialkot dryport had changed the destine of the city.He informed that MCC Sialkot has been responsible for all the Customs related activities within Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Mandi Bahaud-Din and Narowal districts.Member customs said that examination and clearance of import & export consignments at the Sialkot Dry Port Trust (SDPT) has been carried out using advanced technology. “We are trying to improve the capacity of customs and SDPT officials for better use of technology and using intelligence tricks during examination” he added. President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi has said in his welcome address that the up-country dry ports contributed a lot towards national exchequer and played pivotal role in development of exports but there is lethargy in resolution of their problems by departments concerned. he said that besides clear instructions of President of Pakistan to form a joint committee of all the stakeholder to address the problems of dry ports, the joint committee has not yet been formed. He added that exporters were not using up-country dry ports due to considerable delay in refund of rebate claims as compared to duration of refund of rebate claims at Karachi Collectorates and double & ruthless checking of export consignments by Anti Narcotic Force. WeBOC system, he commented, is creating problems for exporters instead of facilitating them as there is lots of lacuna in the system.In the WeBOC system, it is hell of job to rectify even a simple typographical error and requires so much time and hassle due to non-delegation of authority to local collectorate officials, he explained. He said a number of times issues regarding WeBoc were conveyed and discussed with departments concerned even before launch of WeBOC but nobody cared or took notice. Similarly, licenses of bonded carriers are suspended on start of every month, making the export and import processes stand still all over the country causing missing of vessels and financial loss to the exporters and importers, he elucidated.He was of the opinion that help desk be formed immediately for facilitation of exports and imports round the clock and to rectify the errors and omission in the WeBOC there and then for smooth clearance of export and import consignments.Jalaluddin Roomi demanded that all exports should be routed through up-country dry ports to make them financially feasible and for that necessary rules can be made and amended to make compulsory routing of regional exports and imports through up-country dry ports. He expressed grave concern over levy of 17 percent Punjab Sales Tax by Punjab Revenue Authority, Finance Department, Govt of Punjab by making amendments in Second Schedule of Punjab Sales on Services Act 2012 on Port Operators including Dry Ports with effective from May 22, 2013.He said that it would severally affect the volume of the business being carried out through these dry ports. Due to levy of this tax, the services of the dry ports will become dearer and exporters of the respective regions will prefer to move their cargo to Karachi. He explained that diversion of business to Karachi would cause reduction of revenue in the form of duties and tax to the Punjab. Moreover, congestion at mother ports at Karachi will also be increased and the role of the dry ports will diminish.He inquired why services of dry ports be subjected to Sales tax when five zero-rated exporting sectors i.e. Textile, Leather, Carpets, Surgical and Sports goods are exempted from Sales Tax. He added that these ports are providing ancillary services to these five zero rated sectors and Punjab Sales Tax on such services should not be levied. Roomi demanded immediate withdrawal of Punjab Sales Tax levied on the services of Dry Ports.He referred that exporters are facing problems at Karachi Ports due to ruthless rechecking by ANF. He said that frequency of rechecking of Custom Bonded exports consignments is on higher side at Karachi Ports besides the fact that same consignments were examined by Custom and ANF staff at concerned up-country Dry Ports. He requires that profiling / categorization of the exporters be carried out so that consignments are to be checked accordingly with minimum opening of cartons. Excessive checking causes damage to the export goods and may face rejection by the customer. ANF authorities may use Custom Dept’s database for profiling and categorization.The meeting was also attended by Chief Collector (Central) Lahore Zeba Hye Azhar, Collector Customs Multan Saud Imran, Additional collector Talib Hussain, Deputy Collector Saad Ata Rabbani, Assistant Collector Zohaib Sandeela,SVP-MCCI Bakhtawar Tanvir Sheikh, Former Presidents of MCCI, Khawaja Muhammad Yousaf, Mian Iqbal Hassan, Khawaja Muhammad Usman, Khawaja Muhammad Fazil Chairman Multan dryport, and Khawaja Farooq. FBR's member Customs Muhammad Zahid Khokhar inaugurated the conference room in Model Customs collectorate Multan, Pak-Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) Gujerat(Muzaffargarh).Collector customs Multan Saud Imran presented the shield to the guest.Member customs appreciated the performance of Multan collectorate.
