FTO Orders FBR to Work With State Bank of Pakistan To Resolve Exporters’ Issues

The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to liaise with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to resolve the genuine grievances of exporters. In an order on Wednesday, FTO said it is evident that exporters, particularly when conducting open-account bank transactions, are encountering problems in transactions with Banks in some cases. Furthermore, the difficulties faced by the exporters relating to the value addition on the basis of the assessed value of imported goods under the export facilitation scheme (EFS) also require decisive attention by FBR, FTO said. The complaint was filed against various Collectorates under Section 10(1) of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 (FTO Ordinance) for not removing the check of Valuation Ruling in the WeBOC system at the import stage for goods that are to be exported under the Export Oriented Unit Rules, 2008. During the hearing, the complainant raised two issues: In order to resolve the genuine hardships faced by exporters, the FBR is directed to instruct the Member Customs (Operations) to resolve the difficulties faced by the exporters in the afore-mentioned valuation aspects, in consultation with the Directorate General of Customs Valuation, on priority, as per law.