ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has asked the holders of expired National Tax Number (NTN) certificates/cards to file applications for the issuance of new ones.

For the speedy disposal of their applications, taxpayers facilitation centres have been set up at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, said Vakil Ahmed Khan, CBR official spokesman, in a statement issued on Monday.

These centres, Mr Khan said, will, upon receipt of application, issue new NTN certificates within 72 hours and deliver at the given address through Special Courier Service.

Regarding the area of functioning for these centres, the spokesman said, the Centre at Islamabad would look after the taxpayers of Rawalpindi, Islamabad and NWFP, while the centre at Lahore will cater to taxpayers of the Province of Punjab except for Rawalpindi.

The centre at Karachi will provide service to the taxpayers residing in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, he said.

The issuance of new NTN certificates has been arranged following the repeated queries from the NTN certificates and cards holders regarding the validity of period of old NTN certificates/cards.

The spokesman said that the National Tax Number certificates and cards issued to taxpayers up to 1998 were time bound as each such card had an explicit date of expiry.