The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Budget 2019-20 carried many anomalies related to steel sector that could be disastrous for steel industry and called upon the government to take urgent measures to remove such anomalies before passage of Finance Bill 2019-20 from the parliament in order to save the steel industry from further problems.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal President, Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that wrong PCT Code of raw material was included in the 1st Schedule of Customs Act as one of the three primary raw materials for steel making, HMS Scrap under PCT Code 7204.4990 was left out of the 1st Schedule whereas the other two primary raw materials (PCT Code 7204.4100 and 7204.3000) were rightly included in the 1st Schedule. They said that this anomaly was needed to be fixed so that all primary raw materials for steel manufacturing could attract zero rate of CD, ACD and RD.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal said it seemed that wrong PCT Code 7204.4910 (Re-Rollable Scrap) was mistakenly included in the 1st Schedule and emphasized that this PCT Code was required to be removed from the 1st Schedule because it was an intermediate good. He said the highlighted anomaly could be disastrous for the local melting industry if an intermediate good attracted the same duties as the primary raw material. He said that double taxation (ST) on raw material and finished goods as on June 30, 2019 also required to be removed since finished goods stock as on June 30, 2019 will have already accrued sales tax via electrical consumption as per Sales Tax Special Procedures. He said the sale of such goods under FED regime should not attract further FED as it will be double taxation.
ICCI President said that as per Sales Tax Special Procedures, companies will have valid adjustment certificates for advanced sales tax paid at port on import of scrap. He said such adjustment certificates should be utilized as inputs to adjust the FED liability from July 1st, 2019 onwards. He further said that a price notification mechanism for FED liability for steel billets, bars, and angles should be developed to ensure uniformity of collection across the sector. He stressed that government should develop a consensus formula for price mechanism in consultation with steel sector industrialists.