February 2, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 29, 1423

ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: Top tax officials are meeting exporters on Monday in Lahore to resolve the pending refunds issue and other taxation measures related to exports.

An official source told Dawn that chairman, Central Board of Revenue (CBR), Riaz Ahmed Malick, to be assisted by member, sales tax, Ramzan Bhatti and member, direct taxes, Vakil Ahmed Khan, will hold talks with members of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in this regard.

The meeting was arranged on the complaint of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to President, General Pervez Musharraf alleging that the tax authorities have withheld their genuine refunds.

The CBR has yet to clearly define the definition of refunds to exporters. For exporters, refund means what they claimed but for CBR, it means to verify the claims of exporters.

The tax officials would also hold talks with the representatives of All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association (Aptma).

CBR official spokesman, Vakil Ahmed Khan said that some pendency of refunds had built up in recent months because of introduction of STARR automated refund system.

Elaborating further, Mr. Khan said that pendency was also due to heavy purchases of ginned cotton by the spinners without an adequate procedure for timely refunds on ginned cotton.

This difficulty has now been resolved, the spokesman said and added within another one or two months, the general sales tax (GST) refunds would return to normal.

The complaints from certain quarters of pendency of GST refund in excess of Rs20 billion have been dismissed by the CBR, he added.