Govt assures IT industry of speedy clearance of imported goods

A senior official of the Customs Department has assured the IT industry that the formal/documented imports of the computer vendors and the IT industry will be facilitated through speedy clearance of imported consignments, as the sector is contributing a handsome amount of duties and taxes at the import stage.

During a meeting of the Pakistan Customs Association (PCA) with the customs collector, Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), the role of the documented industry in contributing to the revenue collection as well as measures to curb smuggling of IT products were discussed in detail. The customs authorities were confident that changes in the sales tax regime on the computer industry through Finance Act 2016 would bring informal traders within the documented regime as they would prefer to clear their consignments through legal channels.

The official said that the government will recognise the documented importers, who are clearing their goods after payment of due amount of taxes through legal channels.

He endorsed the viewpoint of the industry that the DG Valuation Customs Karachi plays a crucial role in accurate valuation of imported IT products and customs values used for assessment of duties and taxes are based on values notified by the DG Valuation Customs Karachi.

The official said that the department will extend wholehearted support and facilitation to the IT traders. He directed the importers to always keep the documentation with their import consignment to facilitate the clearing process. He called upon the PCA to hold frequent team-to-team meetings with customs officials, on a monthly or quarterly basis, as they may deem fit, to speed up the process of tax collection and clearance and resolve their problems at the earliest.

Earlier, PCA Chairman Munawar Iqbal thanked Customs Collector Dr Arslan Zubuctageen for his contribution in curbing the menace of smuggling and harassment of the IT traders and assured him of PCA’s fullest support and cooperation in its contribution in revenue generation to the government. He said the PCA would be happy to keep regular contact with the customs officials to highlight their problems for early resolution. He said that after the removal of the GST from some of the IT products, more items may be included in the tax exemption list in future.