ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: The government has decided to replace the manual processing of refund claims with automated processing for speedy clearance of refunds to exporters.

The new system is expected to be implemented by the end this month as agreed with the International Monetary Fund, said a CBR official. It was one of the IMF conditionalities for releasing the next tranche of Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF).

Member sales tax Ramzan Bhatti said that in this connection the Central Board of Revenue was set to establish sales tax automated refund repository (STARR) at Lahore, which would be having online connectivity with all the ten sales tax collectorates across the country.

Explaining the new system, he said the exporters would submit their claims on computer diskettes at the respective collectorates, which would be subject to pre-defined automated scrutiny with the help of STARR.

This system would save a lot of time and money of the exporters as well as the department, the member claimed.

With the establishment of refund automation system, the refund claimant would be in a position to track processing and progress of his claims by assessing to the designated website of the CBR, he said.

Under the proposed system, the exporters would no more be required to visit the sales tax office to know the progress of his refund claims. The automated refund processing system would speed up the refund procession, ensuring timely payments to the exporters, he said, adding it would also help safeguarding the legitimate government revenue.