President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to issue directives for rectifying the technical errors being suffered by filers of Sales Tax Return who have been facing a lot of problems in filing their Sales Tax Returns since last three months.

In a letter sent to Chairman FBR Malik Amjad Zubair Tiwana, President KCCI stated that the Karachi Chamber has been constantly receiving several complains from its members who have been facing a lot of problems in filing their Sales Tax returns due to restriction introduced last year through Sales Tax General Order (SGTO) 13 of 2022 which restricts filers to report supplies, allowing only those with HS Codes imported or purchased within the last twelve months to be included in the Sales Tax Returns.

“The Karachi Chamber fully endorses STGO 13 of 2022 which has been working flawlessly since last one year, however, since the last three months Sales Tax Filers have started facing a lot of problems while attempting to input their HS Codes for lawfully imported items by commercial importers for which the GDs are also available but the system gives error that the HS code does not exist in your purchases as per STGO 13 of 2022”, he informed, adding that this creates huge problems for Sales Tax filers as they were unable to file their returns since last three months.

He requested the Chairman FBR to get this issue rectified in Sales Tax Return at the earliest while penalties should not be imposed on Sales Tax Filers for failing to file their returns on time due to this error. “This requires immediate attention as if any Sales Tax filer fails to file four consecutive returns, there are huge chances that the company will be blacklisted”, he added.