Day: October 11, 2019

  • FBR sacks senior auditor for availing plea bargain benefit

    FBR sacks senior auditor for availing plea bargain benefit

    ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has imposed major penalty of ‘dismissal from service’ upon a senior auditor for availing plea bargain benefit in corruption case.

    The FBR on Friday said that Kashif Naseer, Senior Auditor, BS-16 posted at Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore had availed the benefits of plea bargain in terms of section 25(b) of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 as per Accountability Court-III, Sindh, Karachi judgment dated May 23, 2019.

    Member (Admn), FBR after examining the case in light of provisions of the Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules 1973 imposed the major penalty of “Dismissal from Service” upon Kashif Naseer, Senior Auditor with effect from the date of conviction May 23, 2019.

    The FBR said that Kashif Naseer, Senior Auditor had a right to file an appeal to Appellate Authority under Civil Servants (Appeal) Rules, 1977 within a period of 30 days from the date of communication.

  • SECP registration reaches to 105,407 companies

    SECP registration reaches to 105,407 companies

    ISLAMABAD: The total number of registered companies with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has topped at 105,407 with addition of 1,392 new companies in September 2019, according to a statement issued on Friday.

    The SECP registered a total 1,392 new companies in September 2019, raising the total number of incorporated companies to 105,407.

    The incorporation in September 2019 comprises 69 percent private limited, 27 percent single member companies.

    The remaining 4 percent companies include public unlisted companies, trade organizations, foreign companies, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) and not for profit associations.

    During the month, 51 new companies have been incorporated with foreign shareholders mainly from China, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea South, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, UK the US and Yemen.

    Digital solutions deployed by the regulator made companies registration and post incorporation compliance simple, faster and cost effective.

    In September 2019, 96 percent of companies registered online through SECP’s eService and 50 percent of companies incorporated the same day.

    Most importantly, 85 foreign applicants completed registration of companies from overseas using eService.

    In new registrations, trading sector took lead with 239 companies, construction and services with 173 each, information technology with 148, tourism with 79 and real estate development with 54 companies.

    Similarly, 52 companies were registered in food and beverages, 48 in education 38 each in engineering and textile, 37 in corporate agricultural farming, 32 in marketing, 24 in transport, 21 in healthcare, and pharmaceutical each, 20 in communication, 17 companies registered in logging.

    Moreover, 16 companies were each from chemical, auto and allied, cosmetics and toiletries, and steel and allied sector and 15 each, power generation with 13, broadcasting and telecasting with 12 and 92 companies were registered in other sectors.

    During the month, the highest numbers of companies i.e. 503 were registered in CRO Islamabad.

    The CROs in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered, 413, 247, 78, 69, 40, 28, 12 and 2 companies respectively.

    The increasing trend in online registration of companies demonstrates success of reforms and digitalization recently undertaken by SECP. It is to emphasize that through SECP’s eService, registration of a company is now a simple one-step procedure that can be completed within four working hours.

    The steps of company name reservation, incorporation application, appointment of Chief Executive Officer are now merged. By providing additional information in online company incorporation form, a company can also get registration with FBR, EOBI and provincial social security, labor department and excise & taxations departments of Punjab and Sindh.

    Moreover, the browser compatibility of SECP’s eServcies portal has also been improved to match with all commonly used browsers.

  • Stock market gains 448 points on positive expectations of FATF meeting

    Stock market gains 448 points on positive expectations of FATF meeting

    KARACHI: The stock market gained 448 points on Friday on expectations of positive outcome of FATF meeting.

    The benchmark KSE-100 of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,476 points as against 34,028 points showing an increase of 448 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued the uptrend today, expecting positive outcome of the FATF meeting in the coming week.

    They said that mid of the month is also going to see several corporate announcing financial results, which also had the market trade, largely in positive direction.

    Cement and Steel sector braced decline following the trend in the past couple of sessions.

    During the session, the news of Iranian oil tanker explosion had international crude oil prices spike resulting positively on the E&P sector.

    Refinery sector lagged behind due to concerns on upcoming quarterly results. Traded value hit the highest level in rupee terms during 2019.

    Besides, Technology sector led the volumes table with 56.4 million shares, followed by Cement (35 million) and Chemical (31.9 million).

    Among scrips, WTL ranked top with 30.8 million shares, followed by LOTCHEM (19.1 million) and TRG (18.8 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+170 points), E&P (+89 points), Fertilizer (+39 points), Cement (+38 points) and Power (+31 points).

    Volumes increased again from 261.6 million shares to 287 million shares (+10 percent DoD). Average traded value also increase by 25 percent to reach US$ 677 million as against US$ 54.2 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, LOTCHEM, TRG, UNITY and BOP, which formed 33 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+75 points), OGDC (+36 points), HUBC (+33 points), UBL (+30 points) and LUCK (+29 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include FFC (-8 points), NESTLE (-8 points), AGP (-6 points), KEL (-4 points), and PIBTL (-4 points).

  • Significant decline in import bill sharply narrows trade deficit by 35 percent in first quarter

    Significant decline in import bill sharply narrows trade deficit by 35 percent in first quarter

    ISLAMABAD: Significant decline in import bill helped to sharply narrow the trade deficit by 35 percent during first quarter of current fiscal year, according to data released Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

    The trade deficit narrowed by 35 percent to $5.72 billion during July – September 2019 of current fiscal year as compared with deficit of $8.79 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    The total import bill of the country fell by 21 percent to $11.25 billion during first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared with $14.16 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

    Meanwhile, the exports have posted 3 percent growth to $5.52 billion during July – September 2019 as compared with $5.37 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

  • Ufone, Habib Bank sign agreement for trade financing in Chinese currency

    Ufone, Habib Bank sign agreement for trade financing in Chinese currency

    KARACHI: Pak Telecom Mobile Limited – Ufone and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) have signed a landmark agreement, through which HBL has extended a bilateral Trade Finance in Chinese Yuan (RMB/CNY) for the import of cellular network equipment through Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a statement said on Friday.

    The Landmark agreement is part of one of the largest RMB/CNY contracts in the history of Pakistan between Ufone and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd., and it would furthermore be a breakthrough in the banking industry of the country.

    The trade deal under this new mode of transaction will set a precedent for different sectors and corporations in both friendly countries—China and Pakistan—which plan to take their working relationship to the next level through this currency swap agreement.

    This transaction would also ease off the pressure of import bills in terms of dollars for Pakistan.

    The business deal being carried out by Ufone, Huawei and HBL will be the first of its kind in the telecom sector, and will also pave the way for various other mobile operators and traders in Pakistan to expand their businesses through this mode of trade finance facility.

    The agreement was signed by Mohammad Nadeem Khan, Chief Financial Officer PTCL & Ufone and Farhan Talib, Head Corporate and Investment Banking, HBL.

    The ceremony was witnessed by Rashid Khan, President and CEO PTCL & Ufone, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO HBL, Chi Linchun, CEO Huawei Pakistan and Yang Yougui, Regional President Huawei Middle East.

  • Rupee gains 11 paisas on inflows of export receipts

    Rupee gains 11 paisas on inflows of export receipts

    KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued its upward trajectory, gaining 11 paisas against the US dollar on Friday, driven by an influx of export receipts. This positive movement saw the rupee closing at Rs156.07 to the dollar in the interbank foreign exchange market, an improvement from the previous day’s closing of Rs156.18.

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  • FBR acquires information of motor vehicle purchasers

    FBR acquires information of motor vehicle purchasers

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has asked motor vehicle registration authorities and car manufacturers to provide information of persons, who are registration or purchasing motor vehicles.

    The FBR has advised motor vehicle registration authorities and manufacturers of motor vehicles to provide details of persons whose withholding tax was deducted under Section 231B at the time of motor vehicle registration or purchase of motor vehicles.

    The tax authorities also advised the withholding agents to comply with the changes brought through Finance Act, 2019 under which the submission of withholding statement had been made mandatory twice in a year.

    The FBR asked the motor vehicle registration authority and car manufacturers to provide information in case of both categories i.e. compliant taxpayers or persons not on the Active Taxpayers List (ATL).

    From Tax Year 2020 (July 01, 2019 to June 30, 2020) the persons not appearing on ATL will liable to pay 100 percent higher withholding tax.

    The FBR is acquiring information for broadening of tax base purpose. The tax authorities believed that number of individuals were purchasing cars or registering motor vehicles, who were not on the tax roll or in other case compliant but those were concealing true income.

    Under Section 165 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 the FBR empowered to obtain information from withholding agents.

    While withholding agents are required to provide information of persons making transactions, included:

    (a) the name, Computerized National Identity Card Number, National Tax Number and address of each person from whom tax has been collected under Division II of this Part or Chapter XII or the Tenth Schedule or to whom payments have been made from which tax has been deducted under Division III of this Part or Chapter XII or the Tenth Schedule in each half-year

    (b) the total amount of payments made to a person from which tax has been deducted under Division III of this Part or Chapter XII or the Tenth Schedule in each half-year

    (c) the total amount of tax collected from a person under Division II of this Part 1or Chapter XII or the Tenth Schedule or deducted from payments made to a person under Division III of this Part or Chapter XII or the Tenth Schedule in each half-year; and

    (d) such other particulars as may be prescribed

    Provided that every person as provided in sub-section (1) shall be required to file withholding statement even where no withholding tax is collected or deducted during the period.

    Every prescribed person collecting tax under Division II of this Part or Chapter Xll or the Tenth Schedule or deducting tax under Division III of this Part of Chapter Xll or the Tenth Schedule shall furnish statements under sub-section (l) as per the following schedule, namely:-

    (a) in respect of the half-year ending on the 30th June, on or before the 31st day of July; and

    (b) in respect of the half-year ending on the 31st December, on or before the 31st day of January.

  • RTO-III Karachi to examine income of all salary persons of private sector

    RTO-III Karachi to examine income of all salary persons of private sector

    KARACHI: Regional Tax Office (RTO) –III Karachi has been authorized to examine incomes all salary persons in private sector within the jurisdiction of Karachi division.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued revised jurisdiction order for RTO-III Karachi effective from October 03, 2019.

    The Zone-I of the regional tax office will have authority to exercise powers regarding assessment of incomes of all private sector employees falling within the limits of former civil division of Karachi. (All former towns falling under the jurisdiction of RTO-II & RTO-III, Karachi).

    The Zone – I of the RTO also assigned jurisdiction over all classes of cases, persons or classes of persons (corporate and non-corporate) of following sectors other than those specifically assigned to Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU)/LTU-II Karachi, Corporate RTO, Karachi or RTO-II, Karachi or any other zone of RTO-III Karachi whose place of business is situated in the areas falling within the limits of areas falling within the limits of former Bin Qasim Town, Gadap Town, Gulberg Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, Korangi Town, Landhi Town, Malir Town, New Karachi Town, North Nazimabad Town, including New Nazimabad, Shah Faisal Town and within the limits of Faisal Cantonment, Korangi Cantonment and Malir Cantonment:

    i. Manufacturer, exporter, importer, distributor/wholesaler and retailer of textile and textile products and fabrics including ginning, spinning, sizing, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, printing, calendaring, mercenzing and other allied processing etc, whole names begin with alphabet A t Z.

    ii. Manufacturer, importer, exporter, distributor/wholesaler and retailer of garments, terry towels and other made ups whose names begin with alphabet A to Z.

    iii. Manufacturer, importer, exporter, distributor/wholesaler and retailer of carpets whose names begin with alphabet A to Z.

    iv. Manufacturer, importer, exporter distributor/wholesaler and retailer of surgical goods and sports goods whose names begin with alphabet A to Z.

    v. Manufacturer, importer, exporter distributor/wholesaler and retailer of leather tanneries whose names begin with alphabet A to Z.