KARACHI, Jan 7: The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea) has rejected the sales tax department’s claim that its members had obtained double refund during July to Dec 1996.

The chairman, Prgmea, Masood Naqi in a fax to the chairman, CBR, said that Prgmea members claimed input tax on locally paid invoices for cotton cloth from the collectorate of sales tax, whereas the sales tax refunded by the export collectorate was on import of chemicals and dyes used during processing of textile products.

He said that all the claims for rebate filed by Prgmea members during the period from July 1996 were sanctioned and paid after making reduction by 38 per cent on the CBR directive for the period Oct 1 to Nov 15, 1996, and reduced by 66 per cent for the period from Nov 16 to Dec 31, 1996.

The Prgmea chairman pointed out that these facts could be verified from records and it is clear that there is neither duplication nor was any refund claimed twice hence contention of show cause notice is not justified.