May 31, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1427

ISLAMABAD, May 30: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has set up two centralised refund processing cells in Karachi and Lahore to process sales tax refund claims on export of the five zero-rated sector.

The procedures for working of these cells were notified through a sales tax notification 488 of 2006 issued here on Tuesday. These cells will report the progress on disposal of claims directly to the CBR.

According to the Refund of Sales Tax (On Export of Specified Goods) Rules, 2006, the claims would be audited by reputed chartered accountants firms, which will determine the admissibility or otherwise of the refund claims.

The cells will process the refund claims of textile, leather, sports, carpets and surgical.

The refund processing cell in Karachi will process the refund claims relating to Collectorate of Sales Tax (Enforcement), Karachi, Collectorate of Sales Tax and Federal Excise, Hyderabad and Quetta, while the unit in Lahore will process the refund claims relating to Collectorates of Sales Tax and Federal Excise, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Multan.

Each cell will consist of an additional collector and such other officers as may be nominated by the collectors concerned of sales tax. The audit firm will verify the payment of sales tax claimed by the claimant as refund as provided by section 73 and fulfilment of other conditions laid down in chapter-V of the Sales Tax Rules, 2005. The audit will be conducted where the claimant is registered.

The findings of audit will be communicated to the officer in charge of centralised refund unit within 30 days of commencement of audit and the cost of audit done by the audit firm, which will not exceed two per cent of the amount of claims to be borne by the refund claimants.

The refund claims of those exporters who fail to produce the record for audit will be rejected after the issuance of show-cause notice by the appropriate officers of collectorates concerned.

The refund sanctioning officers will decide the refund claims within one week after audit and verification by the designated chartered accountants firm.