A grace period has been granted until April 30 for payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) for the months of February and March 2020, the Inland Revenue Department said.

Issuing a notice to taxpayers, the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue stated that as per the directions issued by the Presidential Secretariat on March 23, 2020 taxpayers are informed on the following:

• VAT Payments for the months of February and March 2020 

Making the VAT payment including VAT on Financial services for the month of February which was due on March 20, 2020 and the payment for the month of March which is due on April 20, 2020 has been allowed up to April 30, 2020. 

Accordingly, payments made on or before April 30, 2020 for above periods shall be deemed as payments made on due dates and any penalty auto-imposed by the system on late payments for above periods will be waived off.

In addition, taking into account of the prevailing situation in the country, all VAT registered persons are informed on followings: 

• VAT Deferment Facility at the point of Customs/BOI

Validity of the extension letters (which will be expired before April 30, 2020) issued with regard to Credit Vouchers due against the VAT deferred under deferment facility have been extended by one month from the respective expiring date. 

• Temporary VAT 

If any Temporary VAT Registration issued and period of validity expires prior to April 30, 2020 as per the certificate, the validity period has been extended till April 30, 2020. 

• Submission of VAT Return 

In terms of the provisions of the VAT Act, VAT Return for the month of February is required to submit on or before March 31, 2020. e-Filing facility is available through IRD Portal, e-Services to submit the VAT return for above period on the due date. 

However, those who could not file the VAT return through e-Services or manually, they are allowed to submit the return until April 30, 2020.