Lahore: The provincial government on Monday announced tax relief for businesses affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation under the Punjab Budget 2020-21 – which is broadly geared towards reducing taxes, implementing measures to digitise the economy, improving ease of doing business, and promoting the construction industry.
The Punjab Budget 2020-21 has reduced stamp duty down to 1% for property transactions – from the current value of 5%. The government had earlier introduced the reduction in tax rates during the previous fiscal year for a period of 3 months. However, now it has been extended for this fiscal year.
The rate of General Sales Tax (GST) on services has also been decreased from 16% to 5% for restaurants and beauty parlours in case of electronic payments – while the cash payments will still be taxed at 16%.
The government has also proposed reducing the taxes on hotels, caterers, marriage halls among others significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown imposed to curb its spread. The Information Technology (IT) sector has also seen some relaxation as the taxation rate reduced from 16% to 5%.
