February 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 2,1423

ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: The revenue collection at the Collectorate of Port Qasim (PQ) has increased by 39 per cent to Rs25 billion during July-January 2002-03 against the last year’s collection of Rs18 billion during the same period.

A senior official in the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) told Dawn on Monday that the increase in collection at the PQ was mainly due to the introduction of Pakistan Goods Declaration (PGD), single document system, at the port.

The PGD, which was in operation since December 2, 2002 at port on trial basis, has greatly simplified the customs import procedure which resulted in enhancement of imports at the port, said the official.

The new clearance system comprises only one document which replaces different customs documents — bill of entry, shipping bill, transshipment permit, baggage declaration and safe transportation permit.

Official statistics made available to Dawn showed that tax authorities collected Rs9.6 billion under the head of customs during July-Jan 2002-03 against Rs7.3 billion the same period last year, showing an increase of 32 per cent.

The sales tax collection registered an increase of 44 per cent to Rs13.6 billion against Rs9.4 billion during the same period last year. The collection of advance tax (withholding tax) on imports has increased by 43 per cent.

Explaining the main features of the PGD system, the official said that some of the advantage to different stakeholders included: saving of time and cost for the trade, customs and the port; availability of a platform for electronically filing of declaration; easy handling and storage of customs records and data.