LAHORE, Dec 23: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday demanded of the finance ministry and the Central Board of Revenue to immediately expedite stuck-up sales tax refund claims.

In a press statement issued here on Monday, LCCI president M. Yawar Irfan Khan said: “The CBR is killing the most productive sector by denying the exporters the right of refund of sales tax.”

The stuck-up amount has reportedly gone up to Rs60 billion, he added. The LCCI chief said that the delay in release of such huge funds would trigger serious liquidity crunch for the exporters and industry that might lead to closure of several industrial units.

He said the authorities concerned should take realistic view of the matter and allow the refunds of sales tax to commercial exporters at the earliest, who were facing hardship.

Mr Yawar criticized the CBR’s approach on SRO410 and its replacement with the Duty and Tax Remission for Export (DTRE) rules without removing the objections raised by the exporters’ associations in this respect. Responding to a press report, the LCCI president said the reasons given by the

CBR officials for the withdrawal of facility of free importation under the SRO 410 did not carry weight rather they further proved the weakness in the CBR’s approach on the issue.

He asked as to how the CBR could justify the withdrawal of SRO410 on the simple excuse that some importers were misusing the facility rather, the CBR should not only expose such importers but also punish them for their wrongdoing instead of withdrawing the decades-old facility available to the exporters, he added.

Mr Yawar, lamenting CBR’s effort of twisting the facts, pointed out that the objections raised by the exporters during consultation have never been redressed by the CBR till date.

The CBR has failed in removing the flaws mentioned by the exporters in the DTRE scheme rather insisting to impose it without paying heed to the concern of the exporters, he added.

According to him, it is not easy to understand that why CBR was insisting on the imposition of DTRE scheme in place of the SRO410 without realizing that free importation for re-export purposes was allowed throughout the world.

The LCCI president urged Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Aziz to direct the CBR not to withdraw SRO410 in the larger interest of the country.—APP