Islamabad: President Arif Alvi recently promulgated an ordinance to facilitate the implementation of concessions, including a reduction proposed on the import duty of low-value smart phones, promised to the country’s traders, a news source reported. Further, the executive plans to penalise currency smugglers through this notification – officiated on December 28.
The ordinance was promulgated with an aim to amend the income tax, sales tax and customs duty in the country. Through the ordinance, the standard rate of minimum tax has been reduced from 1.5% to 0.5% for traders who will report on their turnover receipts of up to PKR 100 million during the tax year 2020. However, those who have filed the returns for 2018 will be required to pay tax equal to or higher than the tax they paid for tax years 2018, 2019 and 2020. These traders with turnover lower than PKR 100 million will also not be required to act as a withholding agent.
The ordinance also amended the condition to qualify for a Tier-1 retailer. Further, the threshold of electricity consumption has now been doubled from PKR 600,000 to PKR 1,200,000.
The custom duty on mobile valued between USD 30 and USD 100 has also been reduced from PKR 730 to PKR 100 and for mobiles valued less than that has also been reduced from PKR 130 to 100. The duty on mobiles valued higher than PKR 100 have been reduced from PKR 1320 to PKR 200.
The ordinance will also enable sharing of information between the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) to implement the directives communicated under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, and to ensure compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations.
A variety of punishments have also been introduced for people found illegally carrying foreign currency higher than USD 10,000. The punishments range from fine to 14 years imprisonment.
