Rs56bln refund paid via FASTER

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has released around Rs56 billion sales tax refunds in order to resolve liquidity problems of exporters, a statement said on Wednesday.

The FBR said taxpayers had filed refund claims amounting to Rs59 billion; therefore, around 95 percent refunds have been paid to the exporters, it added. The amount has been released after processing through the online system FASTER (Fully Automated Sales Tax Electronic Refund), the system developed for quick processing of refunds due to exporters.

Since July 2019, refund claims, amounting to Rs59 billion have been filed and the FBR has sanctioned Rs56 billion, which comes to around 95 percent of the claimed amount. During March, FBR has sanctioned refunds of approximately Rs25 billion to exporters.

FASTER is a fully automated system, which uses a Risk Management System for processing sales tax refunds without human interference.

FASTER is operational for the tax periods July and onwards. FBR strives to make timely payment of refunds to exporters so that they don’t face any liquidity issue, it said.