ISLAMABAD, June 3: Tax authorities have announced an amnesty scheme for those who last year received from the tax department illegal refunds amounting to Rs32.6 billion against claims based on fake and flying invoices, Dawn has learnt.

The customs intelligence has lodged cases against bogus companies being run across the country by influential people who are issuing fake invoices claiming illegal refunds.

A senior official told Dawn on Sunday that the tax department had recovered Rs5 billion from owners of such companies in the outgoing fiscal year. He said there was still a huge amount to be recovered but the department lacked political backing to put its hands on the influential people involved in the scam.

The official said that the amnesty had been announced to recover the remaining amount, adding that the scheme would remain valid till June 25.

The department expects to receive between Rs10 billion and Rs15 billion from the scheme.

This was the only way for such companies to deposit the principle amount which they had claimed from the tax department, the official said.

Bogus companies, which do not do any business, issue fake invoices. Then they claim refunds from the Sales Tax department without paying a single penny on the raw material. And flying invoices are used by registered taxpayers for claiming undue refunds by showing excessive use of raw material.

These bogus companies set up their offices in posh areas and the money spent on maintaining these offices is their only `investment’.

A well-placed source in the FBR disclosed that 560 petitions had been filed against the cases initiated by the customs intelligence. As a result, the source said, an amount of Rs8 billion to Rs10 billion is stuck up in court cases.

According to the tax official, the FBR received Rs9.7 billion in income tax from the amnesty scheme in May alone.