ISLAMABAD, July 26: Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), which called off its countrywide strike after successful negotiations with the high officials of Central Board of Revenue (CBR) in Islamabad on Friday, would meet the CBR officials on Monday to evolve a mechanism for the audit and subsequent payment of refunds.

According to sources, first round of talks between the chairman, CBR, and the PVMA office-bearers had failed due to inflexible position adopted by the two sides. However, after the last minute intervention by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, member sales tax, initiated another round to sort out the differences.

It was agreed upon in the meeting that the audit report from the member audit would be acceptable to the millers.

The mills had gone on countrywide strike on Wednesday last to press the government/ CBR to accelerate the process of their sales tax refund.

The chairman PVMA Abdur Razak while listing the demands had said that the CBR was withholding huge amounts of refund from sales tax returns, records of some of its members’ units were seized and cases registered.

The 48-hour long strike forced the government side to negotiate with the PVMA and the CBR chairman Riaz Malik and other high officials held two lengthy sessions with its office-bearers and assured timely refunds as well as taking the association into confidence before undertaking any raids on their member units.

The spokesman of the CBR and member sales tax Vakil Ahmed khan who spearheaded the second round of talks said, the ghee manufacturers had been assured that the CBR would pay refund on the basis of audit reports and for this purpose the official concerned had been assigned the task.

It has been decided that the reports of member audit on payment of refund would be binding on the CBR. The reports will be prepared against the tax returns.

The CBR in the Friday meeting also accepted ghee mills demand that its officials would refrain from raiding any unit without prior information to the association.

Records of the mills raided by the CBR would also be returned and cases registered against their owners would be withdrawn.

Use of withholding tax and other issues would also be sorted out between the CBR and the PVMA.