Day: March 30, 2019

FBR issues guidelines for refund payment through bonds

ISLAMABAD: In order to facilitate businesses / exporters whose refund claims are pending with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and they are facing liquidity problem, it has been decided to pay sales tax refunds through bonds to the claimants who express willing to get refund through bonds.

Following are important guidelines in this respect:

— The bond scheme pertains to sales tax refund only.

— The features of bond are provided under section 67A of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, as inserted vide Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Act, 2019.

— The bonds shall be issued to the claimants who express willingness for the same by giving an option at e.fbr.gov.pk using their login ID.

— The maturity period of bonds is three years from the date of issuance.

— The bonds carry a simple profit of 10% per annum payable at the end of maturity period i.e. against a bond of Rs. 100,000, Rs. 130,000 shall be paid after maturity to the holder of the bond.

— The bonds are transferable i.e. if a refund claimant who has been issued the bond can sell the same to another person / bank at a price agreed between the two parties.

— The bonds shall be acceptable by banks as collateral for getting advances / loans.

— There shall be no deduction of zakat on the bonds. Sahib-e-Nisab may pay zakat voluntarily as per shariah.

— The bonds shall be payable against Refund Payment Orders (RPOs) as issued in favour of the claimant.

— The bonds shall be issued in multiples of Rs. 100,000. The amount of refund payable as in excess of multiple of Rs. 100,000 shall be paid in cash by direct transfer through State Bank of Pakistan in the claimant’s account.

— The bonds shall be issued through Central Depository Company (CDC). The transfer / pledging of bonds shall be handled by CDC at the option of bond holder.

— The claimant who opt for issuance of bond should have an account with Central Depository Company (CDC). They can provide this account number while submitting their option for bonds to FBR.

— If a claimant does not have a CDC account, he still can opt for issuance of bonds. He will be guided regarding opening of CDC account.

— In case the bond holder wants to sell / transfer the bond, the buyer / transferee should also have a CDC account.

— At the end of maturity period, FBR shall pay the amount due under bond i.e. face value plus profit to the bond holder.

— If FBR decides, it can pay the amount due under bond to the bond holder including profit before maturity. This option is available only to FBR.

— The bond holder shall have to pay nominal fees to CDC on transfers / custody as provided in CDC schedule available at its website.

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SBP holds SaarcFinance seminar on audit

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hosted a seminar on ‘Internal Audit: Emerging Challenges and Effective Practices in Central Banks’ under the aegis of SAARCFINANCE Forum at National Institute of Banking and Finance, Islamabad during 27-29 March 2019, a statement said on Saturday.

Besides Pakistan, officials from SAARC central banks participated in the event.

Qasim Nawaz, Executive Director, SBP inaugurated the seminar.

While addressing the inaugural session, he stated that until a few years back, business process reengineering was at the core of innovation in banks.

While advancements in technology have further transformed the horizon of financial services, these innovations are also raising challenges of their own.

Adding further, he stated that the board and the senior management of State Bank are cognizant of the need to align its internal operations to the changing environment, and to promote innovation in the financial sector in a regulated environment.

Horst Simon, the keynote speaker of the event, discussing technological risks faced by business around the world, highlighted the importance of risk culture inculcated within the organization.

He emphasized on the roles and responsibilities of board, senior management and the employees to maintain a robust risk management mechanism.

The seminar was also addressed by Zayeem Bin Alam, Senior Manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Zayeem discussed the risks of cyber security, social media, data privacy and third party risks and offered an IT auditor’s perspective of how to address those risks by discussing controls.

Syed Sohail Javaad, Director Payment Systems Department shared the on going developments about digital payments, their importance, evolution, the benefits of disruptive technologies to regulators, the emerging risks and appropriate responses to them from the perspective of internal audit.

Apart from these speakers, the delegates of the central banks also presented their country papers for the information of the audience.

March 30, 2019
Rupee falls by 70 paisas in open market

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee fell by 70 paisas against dollar on Saturday owing to demand in the open market.

The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs142.00/Rs142.50 from previous day’s close of Rs141.30/Rs141.80 in cash ready market.

The rupee depreciated during the past two days owing to enhancing key policy rate and the intention shown by the government to enter new IMF loan program.

March 30, 2019
FBR requested to extend return filing date up to April 30

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) has formally requested the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns for the tax year 2018 to April 30, 2019.
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March 30, 2019
Weekly Review: Market to remain range bound

KARACHI: The stock market likely to remain range bound in the upcoming week amid lack of triggers.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that with the State Bank of Pakistan raising the key discount rate by 50 bps, leveraged sectors such as Cements, Steel, Fertilizers, OMCs and Textiles may come under pressure while banks could support the index.

The market commenced on a negative note this week, shedding 403 points on Monday.

Expectations of a rate hike and potential pressure on leveraged sectors kept the market dull.

However, IMF team’s visit to Pakistan and news flow regarding consensus on economic policies later in the week created a positive momentum.

Moreover, USD 2.2 billion loan from China took the weekly reserves to USD 17 billion. With this, the KSE-100 Index gained 117points (up by 0.3 percent WoW) closing at 38,649 points.

Positive sector-wise contributions came from i) Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (+76 points), ii) Fertilizer (+41 points), iii) Automobile Assembler (+36 points), iv) Pharmaceuticals (+25 points) and v) Engineering. On the flip side, sectors that contributed negatively include i) Power Generation & Distribution (-52 points), ii) Food & Personal Care Products (-23 points) and Insurance (-23 points).

Scrip-wise major positive contributions came from SNGP (+38 points), MTL (+30 points), BAHL (+30 points), ENGRO (+24 points), and UBL (+24 points).

Scri points that contributed negatively includes HBL (-64 points), HUBC (-54 points) and NESTLE (-29 points).

Foreign buying continued this week clocking-in at USD 0.5 million compared to a net buy of USD 3.1 million last week. Buying was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 2.6 million) and Exploration & Production (USD 1.1 million).

On the domestic front, major selling was reported by Individuals (USD 5.4 million) and Companies (USD 5.0 million). Volumes settled at 128 million shares (up 53 percent WoW) while value traded clocked in at USD 31 million (up 10 percent WoW).

Other major news: i) Gwadar terminal developer plans IPO for $85 million project, ii) SNGPL, SSGCL seek hefty tariff hike from next fiscal year, iii Descon, CGGC awarded Mohmand Dam Project, iv) Govt to raise Rs2 per unit on power tariff to collect Rs200 billion, and v) Pakistan weighs LNG imports from Saudi, Malaysia.

March 30, 2019
SECP holds awareness session for NPOs on AML/CFT

ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has conducted an awareness session on Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) in collaboration with of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), a statement said on Friday.

The SECP said that the awareness session was conducted AML/CFT obligations of non-profit organizations (NPOs) licensed under section 42 of the Companies Act, 2017, for Lahore-based registered intermediaries.

Around 100 participants from the NPO sector, registered intermediaries and ICAP members were in attendance.

An SECP official made a detailed presentation on the AML/CFT regulatory requirements as well as the mechanism for implementation of United Nations Sanctions Regime under resolutions 1267 and 1373 for designation of terrorist organizations and individuals.

The session focused on the relevant recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force as well as findings of the National Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment, including directions, channels and sources of terror finance, risk assessment of NPOs, and various policy, legislative and administrative measures for terror financing risk mitigation.

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The session also discussed the regulatory measures contained in the regulations for NPOs and intermediaries to prevent money laundering and terror financing abuses, supplemented by the best practices and recommendations contained in the AML/CFT guidelines for NPOs issued by it.

The official emphasized the fact that regulatory action against non-compliant NPOs is a regular feature of the SECP’s enforcement strategy, which will continue in the future.

March 30, 2019
SRB suspends sales tax registration of two goods transport companies

KARACHI: Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has suspended sales tax registration of two goods transport companies for defaulting payment and non-compliance of monthly returns, officials said on Friday.

The SRB suspended sales tax registration of M/s. Sheikh Zahoor Goods and M/s. New Darwesh Goods Transport for violating provincial tax laws.

The SRB suspended registration of Sheikh Zahoor Goods for filing to file monthly Sindh Sales Tax returns for the consecutive seven tax periods from August 2018 to February 2019, despite issuance of notices on January 04, 2019, January 25, 2019 and March 13, 2019.

Furthermore, it is observed that the company had received revenue consideration of Rs72.05 million during the tax period from January 2018 to February 2019 but the taxpayer declared the sales of Rs16.89 million during the tax periods leading to short declaration of sales Rs55.15 million.

The SRB directed the company to take remedial action by April 04, 2019 for paying dues along with surcharges and e-file true and correct monthly sales tax returns.

In the case of New Darwesh Goods Transport Company, the SRB said that the taxpayer had failed to declare any sales during the tax period from March 2018 to February 2019, despite the fact that it had received consideration of Rs13.66 million during January 2018 up to December 2018, which revealed short declaration of sales by it.

The SRB had directed the company to submit a copy of income tax return of tax year 2017/2018 along with summary list of invoices in order to ascertain their Sindh sales tax dues, but it failed to make compliance.

The SRB asked the company to take remedial action by April 04, 2019 of paying outstanding dues along with default surcharge and e-file true and correct monthly sales tax returns.

The provincial revenue authority warned both the companies that if they failed to take remedial actions then the SRB would take necessary action under the law.

March 30, 2019