Overseas Pakistanis Can Import Vehicles After 2 Years: FTO

Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah has ruled that overseas Pakistanis can import vehicles under personal baggage, transfer of residence, and gift schemes, provided they have not gifted/imported/received a vehicle in the past two years. The FTO has directed the Directorate of Reforms & Automation in Karachi to enhance the electronic Customs Reference Form (e-CRF) system. This will help customs officials verify that no goods declaration (GD) is filed on a new passport by importers who have already imported a vehicle on an old passport within the last two years under the specified schemes. Currently, the WeBOC system prevents filing a GD if another declaration was filed on the same passport within two years. However, there is no check for new GDs filed on new passports. Verification is conducted through the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) department. The FTO has also instructed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to add additional checks in the WeBOC system to ensure compliance with the IPO for vehicle imports. This system upgrade will help customs officers verify vehicle imports against the regulations and better distinguish between legal and illegal imports.