FBR completes five-year tax audit of 69 Sugar Mills: Shahzad Akhbar

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability, Barrister Shahzad Akhbar says the Federal Board of Revenue has completed a five-year tax audit of sixty-nine Sugar Mills and a tax of about 588 billion rupees has been imposed on them.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad Saturday, he pointed out that ten Sugar Mills have taken stays from different high courts against the tax audit.

The Advisor said the audit has contributed to doubling the tax revenue from Sugar Mills during the last fiscal year. He said a fine of forty-four billion rupees has also been imposed on Sugar Mills for cartelization.

Shahzad Akbar said that a track and trace system will be installed in sugar mills before the next crushing season in order to determine their actual production and avoid tax evasion.

He said that an inquiry was also conducted into the shortage of petroleum products last year and a fine was imposed on the oil marketing companies involved in the shortage of petroleum products.

The Advisor said that two thousand illegal petrol stations have been shut down, which has resulted in the increase of the sale of PSO.

Few sugar mills have got stay orders from the courts. He said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)is introducing a system through which inquiries against sugar mills can be held and added that the Track and Trace system will be implemented before the next sugarcane crushing season.

Commenting on the Broadsheet Inquiry Commission, Shahzad Akbar said that the committee revealed that the case was not fought in the right way by the government of Pakistan from 2009 to 2018. “Inquiry underway to find the negligence and action would be taken in this regard.”

Shahzad Akbar further said that the prices of petroleum products are linked with the international market.

He said that from 2009 to 2018 the then government did not fight the case properly. The commission is now investigating the matter, he added. TF Report