FAISALABAD, April 29: The government is considering a proposal for electronic payment of sales tax (ST) refund to exporters through a computerised system.

Addressing a gathering of textile exporters here on Tuesday, collector (sales tax) Pervaiz Sultan said automated arrangements would remove unnecessary delay and procedural snags in the payment of ST refund. He said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had floated the proposal.

Sultan said exporters had been generally complaining about difficulties in getting refund even after fulfilling all formalities.

“Exporters also complain that it takes months for the issuance of refund cheques which hamper their business activities.”

However, he said after the new mechanism, exporters would get the sanctioned amount of tax refund through electronic transfer.

He said the collectorate had approached the FBR with certain modifications in the existing system to improve sales tax refund regime.

Sultan said the FBR was considering another proposal for complete elimination of manual checking and objections in the processing of refund claims by replacing this system with an automated one.