RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The payment of custom duties and taxes of over Rs 1 million will also be accepted now through e-payment by January 20.

For the purpose, a joint meeting has been conducted by the central bank through video link on the request of Karachi Customs Agents Association (KCAA), which was attended by over 60 regional heads of all designated banks and the representatives of the association on the other day, said KCAA president Wasiq Hussain Khan.

During the meeting, it was decided that for the payment of duties and taxes, any amount could be paid through cheque in any branch of the same bank along with PSID for issuance of pay order. However in case of any discrepancy, the additional taxes will be charged through cash or if the tax is less than the cheque amount, the excess amount will be deposited in the account of taxpayers just like a PD account.

“No limit will be fixed and the taxpayers are allowed to pay any amount as customs duties and taxes, he said and added that corporate customers are also allowed to make payments through conventional banking i.e. pay orders or cheques due to their inability to pay duty and taxes online but if the corporate sector could manage to make e-payment, this facility would be available for them.

Moreover, he said it was also decided to provide all facilities including online banking, ATM cards, etc to the corporate sector and added that Standard Chartered, Samba Bank, etc were already providing online facilities to the corporate sector.

Furthermore, he said the taxpayers were earlier facing 2 to 3 days delays in getting acknowledgement slip of tax payments, if the legal obligations were fulfilled through e-payment and now issue had been addressed during meeting that led the directions to the competent authority to ensure the generation of the acknowledgment payment voucher on real time basis.