SBP to launch e-payment for duty, taxes from 20th: KCCA

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to launch electronic payment facility for duty and taxes above Rs1 million for consignment clearance from January 20, 2021, tax practitioners said on Monday.

Karachi Customs Agents Association (KCAA) in a release said a decision to this effect was taken in a meeting between the association officials and senior central bank officers to discuss the matter with a view to facilitate trade.

The KCAA said on the request of the association a comprehensive joint meeting was held on January 07, 2021, wherein the issues pertaining to banking sectors were discussed.

In order to facilitate the trade and taxpayers the various decisions were taken by the competent authorities of SBP in the said meeting.

It said it was decided that for the payment of custom duties and taxes, any amount can be paid through cheque in any branch of the same bank along with PSID instead of following the process for issuance of Pay Order.

“However in case any variation, the excess/additional amount of taxes will be collected through cash or in case the taxes amount is less than of the cheque amount, the excess amount will be deposited in the account of taxpayers just like PD Account,” the meeting decided.

KCAA informed the central bank that few banks had different limits for accountholders and they do not allow payment of duty and taxes of more than their assigned/authorised limits through the module of e-payment.

It was agreed by the State Bank of Pakistan that no capping/limit will be fixed in future, the taxpayers and stakeholders can pay their customs duties and taxes without having any limits.

The KCAA also pointed out that Corporate Customers do not have ATM Cards, mobile apps and internet banking; hence they were unable to make online payments for duty and taxes.

"The corporate sector does not even have access for online banking and they have to make payments through conventional methods of submitting pay orders or cheques,” it noted.

Corporate sector entities willing to make e-payment for duty and taxes should have a 24/7 module for facilitation of payments, the KCCA statement added.

In this regard it was decided by the SBP that in near future all such facilities would be provided to the corporate sectors. “Few banks like Standard Chartered, Samba Bank etc already provide net banking to corporate sectors,” the statement quoted SBP officials as saying.