Tax refunds of Rs 163 billion released during FY 2019-20: Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Friday said that the government has released Rs 163 billion of tax refunds during the ongoing fiscal year 2019-20, ARY NEWS reported.

He said that the amount released during the ongoing year was bigger than the previous financial year when Rs 101 billion of tax refunds were released.

Divulging details of the refunds released this year, he said that Rs 100 billion of the amount was released under the special relief package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan amid coronavirus outbreak in the country.

“Refunds of Rs 52 billion were made to industries in terms of general sales tax while Rs 10 billion of the tax refund was released for exporters under Fully Automated Sales Tax e-Refund (FASTER) system,” Hafeez Shaikh said.

He said that Rs 15 billion refunds were given in terms of duty draw back while Rs 20.5 billion of the refund was made under Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) scheme.

Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday interacted with the business community members and inquired regarding impact of coronavirus pandemic on the business activities.

The business community informed the adviser that daily-wage employees and small and medium enterprises would suffer the most due to the pandemic.

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the community members also asked the government to expedite the process of the refund for exporters.

To this, Hafeez Shaikh directed the Chairperson Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to expedite the refund process.

He hoped that the exporters would fulfill their promises with the government as soon as the coronavirus crisis was over.