FBR begins crackdown against sale of smuggled oil products

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will launch a crackdown against the sale of smuggled petroleum products across the country from Monday (today).
Chairman FBR Javed Ghani has directed all field officers and staff to effectively curb sale of smuggled petroleum products as per directions of the Prime Minister.
Earlier on Monday last, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered a crackdown on elements involved in sale of smuggled petroleum products, inflicting a loss of Rs150 billion per annum to the national exchequer. The Prime Minister ordered this while chairing a high-level meeting, which was attended by top civil and military officials.
He said that the economy is suffering irreparable loss due to the menace of smuggling and called for final action against elements involved in such illegal acts. He approved an action plan, according to which a crackdown will be launched against illegal petroleum outlets, FIRs will be registered against their owners, their properties will be forfeited, and heavy fines will be imposed.
The Prime Minister resolved that the money recovered from the anti-smuggling drive will be spent on the public.
A report about trade of smuggled petroleum products in the country was presented to the Premier during the meeting. The meeting was informed that the country is deprived of an estimated revenue of Rs150 billion per annum due to sale of smuggled oil. As many as 2,094 fuel stations were found to be involved in the sale of smuggled petroleum products in three provinces.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Customs has announced that payment of duty and taxes above Rs1 million will only be made electronically (alternate delivery channels) from January 15.
According to an announcement, consignments through the WeBOC system will be cleared on e-payment of duty and taxes above Rs1million.
Pakistan Customs said that the e-payment system is a modern way of collecting tax payments through the internet. Banks, taxpayers, withholding agents and e-intermediaries are beneficiaries of this system. Taxpayers can create their electronic payments from anywhere and can also schedule their payments to be credited to the government of Pakistan accounts on any future dates.
The e-payment system decreases the workload on bank staff. Payments made through PAYSYS are instantly communicated to electronic systems of FBR and Banks. It’s very easy to use this system and generate various informative reports for daily branch level operations. Payment System provides you electronic payment documents in hard copy as well as electronic copy in PDF format for subsequent utilization.
Following are the e-payment system overview in general terms:
Round-the-clock facility is being provided to importers/exporters to pay customs duties, taxes and other dues electronically from their bank accounts through internet banking and automated teller machines (ATM) for clearance of consignments through WeBOC system.
Trader/clearing agent shall login to WeBOC system for filing of Goods Declaration in WeBOC.
Trader/clearing agent will click on the “Submit” button of the Goods Declaration. Upon click on the Submit button system will display the goods declaration payment information screen to trader/clearing agent.
In the drop down menu for payment mode, the trader/clearing agent shall select the payment mode of “e-payment” and click on the “submit” button. Upon clicking on the submit button, the WeBOC system will submit the GD successfully and display the link “Pay duty and taxes via 1Link”.
Trader/clearing agent will click on the above link and the WeBOC system will generate a unique 20 digit Payment Slip ID (PSID). The system will display the duty and taxes breakup along with PSID.
The trader shall login to the online banking system of his bank through computer or mobile phone or visit an ATM facility. The bill payment screen of the bank shall reflect “FBR” as biller. The trader shall click the option “FBR”. The bank / ATM screen shall require the trader to enter PSID generated by the WeBOC system.
By entering PSID, the payment details shall be visible to the trader for approval of the payment of duty & taxes. Upon confirmation, the bank account of the trader shall be debited and a message of successful transaction shall be visible on the screen.
The WeBOC system will accordingly process the Goods Declaration filed by the trader.
For any subsequent payment of dues in relation to the processing of Goods Declaration as a result of any reassessment made by Customs, the trader shall click “Payment Management” from his WeBOC home screen and click the link “Pay duty and taxes via 1Link”. A sub menu “Payment against GD” shall be opened. Upon clicking the same, a new screen shall appear in which option will be available to search GD against which payment is required to be made. Upon clicking the specific GD, the system will provide a “Generate PSID” option. Upon clicking the same, a new unique PSID shall be generated which can be utilized by the trader to pay duty / taxes in the same manner.- TLTP