ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: The government has allowed payment of refund of sales tax and federal excise duty to registered exporters of vegetable ghee and cooking oil.

The local ghee manufacturers for the last six month have been demanding refund of sales tax and federal excise duty paid on exports, but the Central Board of Revenue refused to accept their demand.

The Central Board of Revenue had introduced a flat rate of

Re1 per kg as sales tax on import of ghee and oil as final liability for local consumption. But the same was applied on exportable product which was against the law.

Finally, the CBR through a notification SRO993 of 2006 on Friday introduced a flat rate of refund of Rs5.99 per kg on export of vegetable ghee and Rs6.69 per kg on cooking oil, which would be available retrospectively from January 1, 2006 to all exporters.

The CBR linked the payment of refund with fulfilment of following conditions that included only branded products would be entitled for claiming repayment-cum-drawback; the exporter would file claim on monthly basis, as and if due and the commercial exporters would be entitled to the refund provided they make direct procurements from the registered ghee or oil manufacturing units.

The import goods declarations (duplicate-in-original) and original purchase invoices would be endorsed by the concerned officer of the collectorate of sales tax and federal excise confirming their utilisation for the purpose of claiming drawback.

The exporters would be required to furnish a monthly inventory-cum-production statement to the concerned collector in the format as set out in annex duly supported by goods declarations and purchase invoices. The statement would be verified on quarterly basis through desk audit; and the applicable export policy conditions and procedures would be adhered to as usual.

The collectorates would process the claim in the same manner as prescribed under Chapter V of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006, as far as applicable, and make payment of admissible drawback within the time prescribed under the said rules.