FAISALABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue, Faisalabad, has detected 16 mills showing fake production and recovered sales tax to the tune of Rs220 million during the last five months.

Sources told Dawn that a couple of weeks ago, the FBR had obtained the purchase data of the spinning sector and found that they had bought different items amounting to Rs4 billion.

However, they showed Rs8 million worth of sale.

They said prior to the practice of obtainingpurchase data, the FBR used to focus on the sales of the mills only to collect the sales tax.

Following a huge difference in sales and purchase figures, a campaign against the tax evaders had been initiated and for the purpose the FBR officials were deployed at different factories under Section 40-B of the Sales Tax law.

The section 40-B titled `Posting of Inland Revenue Of ficer` reads that the FBR or chief commissioner may post officer of Inland Revenue on the premises of registered person or class of such persons to monitor the production, sale of taxable goods and the stock position.

Now the board decided to beef up monitoring of the industry particularly the textile sector to check their production, they added.

They said the FBR had managed to recover Rs220 million during the last five months.

Giving break-up, sources said in December the FBR had received Rs20 million from fourtextile mills, Rs13.9m from three units in January, Rs28.5m from four mills in February, Rs92.3m from eight mills, including two spinning units, and Rs65.6m recovered from eight mills in April.

They said more funds would be deposited with the national kitty as FBR officials were going through the data of different factories.

The officials said the millers had allegedly been dodging the FBR and evading sales tax on the pretext that they had been providing services toothersratherproducinganyproduct independently.

However, the industrialists attached with the textile processing sector were not ready to accept the deployment of the FBR officials at their factories.

The All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association in a statement said the FBR officials were intentionally pushing the processing industry to a difficult situation so that they could not run their units. They said FBRofficials had been harassing the millers for the last many months and collecting million of rupees tax by force.

`They are receiving extortion rather tax, the statement said.

In December last, the millers and the FBR officials had reached an understanding af ter a marathon meeting and the processing units had started paying taxes. Now FBR officials changed their stance and were demanding particulars of the parties sending fabrics to the units for processing.

They said the unit owners were being asked to pay more tax if they would not provide particulars of their clients.

An FBR officer requesting anonymity told Dawn that only suspected units were being monitored and officers were also keeping an eye on the employees deployed at the factories. He said the industrialists had been trying to pressurise the FBR officials rather strengthening their hands to net the fraudsters.