FBR, SBP extend working hours for IR, banks for tax

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday directed offices of Inland Revenue (IR) to observe extended working hours to facilitate taxpayers in payment of duty and taxes.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the FBR directed all the IR offices including Large Taxpayers Office (LTOs), Medium Tax Office (MTO), Corporate Tax Offices (CTOs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) to open and observe extended working hours till 9:00pm on Wednesday (September 29) and till 12:00 midnight on Thursday (September 30) to facilitate the taxpayers in payment of duties and taxes.
The FBR directed chief commissioners Inland Revenue to establish liaison with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and authorized branches of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to ensure transfer of tax collection by these branches on September 30, 2021 to the respective branches of the SBP on the same date so as to account for the same towards the collection for the month of September 2021.
Earlier in the day the SBP also issued instructions to the banks to facilitate the taxpayers in payment of duty and taxes. The SBP said that the SBP-BSC offices and NBP branches (A, B and C category) shall observe extended banking hours till 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM on September 29, 2021 and September 30, 2021, respectively for collection of government taxes and duties through manual mode as well as Alternate Delivery Channels (ADCs) mode at Over-the-Counter (OTC) facility.
The SBP further said that in order to ensure same day settlement of tax collection on September 30, 2021, following special clearing and settlement will be arranged through M/s. NIFT and 1Link: M/s. NIFT shall arrange special clearing at 7:00 PM on September 30, 2021 for same-day clearing of payment instruments; and M/s. 1Link shall arrange to provide the settlement batch of transactions executed through ADCs platform till 10:00 PM on September 30, 2021 to the SBP for settlement in government accounts.
The NBP branches shall settle their transactions of September 30, 2021, with respective SBP-BSC field offices / head office latest by 10:00 PM same day i.e. September 30, 2021. The SBP said that in order to eliminate the issue of spillover of tax receipts, NBP shall ensure that no instrument concerning government receipts, lodged in aforesaid office hours, shall remain unattended at any NBP branch and shall be settled in the value date of September 30, 2021 through special clearing. – TLTP