Pkrevenue.com

Year: 2019

  • Convicted persons to display names at business places

    Convicted persons to display names at business places

    KARACHI: A person, who is convicted in an office of smuggling, is required to display notice of conviction for a period of three months.

    If the person fails to do so the he commits further offence.

    Under the updated Customs Act, 1969, the section 189 of the Act granted made it compulsory for a person who is convicted for the offence of smuggling to display the notice of conviction.

    Section 189: Notice of conviction to be displayed

    Sub-Section (1) Upon the conviction of any person for the offence of smuggling, the Federal Government may require him to exhibit in or outside, or both in and outside his place of business, if any, notices, of such number, size and lettering, and placed in such positions and containing such particulars relating to conviction as it may determine, and to keep them so exhibited continuously for a period not less than three months from the date of conviction; and, if he fails to comply fully with the requirement, he shall be deemed to have committed a further offence under this Act of the nature of the original offence for which he was convicted.

    Sub-Section (2): If any person so convicted refuses or fails to comply fully with any such requirement, any officer authorized in that behalf by an order of the Federal Government in writing may, without prejudice to any proceedings which may be brought in respect of any such refusal or failure, affix the notices in or outside, or both in and outside, the place of business of such person in accordance with the requirement of the Federal Government in pursuance of sub-section (1).

    Sub-Section (3): If, in any case, the Federal Government is satisfied that the exhibition of notices in accordance with the requirements of the provisions of sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) will not effectively bring the conviction to the notice of persons dealing with the convicted person, the Federal Government may, in lieu of, or in addition to any such requirement, require the convicted person to exhibit for such period, not being a period less than three months, on such stationery used in his business as may be specified in the requirement, a notice placed in such position and printed in type of such size and form and containing such particulars relating to the conviction as may be specified in the requirement; and, if he fails to comply fully with the requirement, he shall be deemed to have committed a further offence under this Act of the nature of the original offence for which he was convicted.

  • Commissioner empowered to make assessment of concealed income

    Commissioner empowered to make assessment of concealed income

    KARACHI: A commissioner of Inland Revenue has been empowered to make assessment of income detected as concealed income by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) or any other agency.

    (more…)
  • Text of National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019

    Text of National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019

    ISLAMABAD: A presidential ordinance has been promulgated to restrict National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take action against matters of tax evasion and an act of government officials done in good faith.

    Following is the text of the amended ordinance

    ===================================================================

    BILL

         further to amend the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999

         WHEREAS it is expedient further to amend the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (No. XVIII of 1999), for the purposes hereinafter appearing.

    It is hereby enacted as follows: –

    1. Short title and commencement – This Act may be called the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019.

    (2)  It shall come into force at once.

    1. Amendment of section 4, Ordinance XVIII 1999 – In the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (No.XVIII of 1999), the current section 4 shall be substituted with the following provisions namely: –

    “4.  Application

    (1) This Ordinance extends to the whole of Pakistan.

    (2)  Notwithstanding anything contained in this Ordinance, except for the persons, transactions and matters specified in sub-Section (3) of this Section, the provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to all persons, including those persons who are or have been in the service of Pakistan, wherever they may be.

    (3)  The persons, transactions and matters to which the provisions of this Ordinance shall not apply will be as follows: –

    • transactions and matters pertaining to Federal or Provincial taxation, duties, levies or imposts, by whatever name called;

    Explanation

    • All pending inquiries and investigations which relate to matters pertaining to this clause (a) sub-Section (3) of Section 4 shall stand transferred to the respective authorities or departments which administer the relevant laws of taxation, levies or imposts in question by whatever name called;
    • All pending trials which relate to matters pertaining to this clause (a) sub-Section (3) of Section 4 shall stand transferred from the relevant Accountability Courts to the criminal Courts which deal with offences, if any, under the respective laws pertaining to taxations, levies or imposts in question by whatever name called;

    (b)  any private person or matter or transaction in relation to such private person, unless such private persons is alleged to: –

    • have given or offered to give or attempted to give any gratification, other than legal remuneration, or valuable thing or pecuniary advantage to a public officer holder in terms of clauses (i), (ii) and (iv) of Section 9(a) and there is corroborative evidence that the public office holder has materially benefitted by gaining any monetary benefit or asset disproportionate to his known sources of income or which cannot be reasonably accounted, from such private person; or
    • is directly or indirectly connected with the holder of public office as his dependent or benamidar;

    Explanation

    • However, this clause (b) of sub-Section (3) of Section 4 shall not apply in case of an offence falling under clauses (ix), (x) and (xi) of Section 9(a) and clause (xii) of Section 9(a) to the extent that it applies to clauses (ix), (x) and (xi) of Section 9(a).

    (c)  unless a holder of public office has materially benefitted by gaining any monetary benefit or asset disproportionate to his known sources of income or which cannot be reasonably accounted for by the holder of public and there is evidence to corroborate such material benefit, NAB shall not take cognizance of any offence under this Ordinance involving a procedural lapse including any offence specified in clause (vi) of Section 9(a);

    (d)  unless a holder of public office has materially benefitted by gaining any monetary benefit or asset disproportionate to his known sources of income or which cannot be reasonably accounted for, and there is evidence to corroborate such material benefit, NAB shall not take cognizance of any offence involving the rendition of an incorrect act, decision, advice, opinion or report;

    (e)  the valuation of immovable properties, for the purposes of assessing as to whether a holder of public office has assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, shall be reckoned either according to the actual price shown on the relevant title documents or the applicable rate prescribed by the District Collector or the Federal Board of Revenue, which is higher. No evidence contrary to the later shall be admissible.

    1. Amendment of Section 5, Ordinance XVIII 1999 – In the current Section 5 “Definitions” of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (No.XVIII of 1999), after the definition of “PERSON” in clause (o) the following heading will be added namely: –

    “PRIVATE PERSON” shall mean any person other than the holder of public office.”

    1. In the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (No. XVIII of 1999), after clause (vi) of sub-section (a) of Section 9, Ordinance XVIII of 1999 the following proviso shall be added, namely: –

    “Provided that an act done in good faith and in discharge of duties and performance of official function shall not, unless there is corroborative evidence of accumulation by the public office holder of any monetary benefit or asset which is disproportionate to the known sources of income or which cannot be reasonably accounted for, constitute an offence under this clause.”

    1. In the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (No. XVIII of 1999), after clause (vii) of sub-section (a) of Section 9, Ordinance XVIII of 1999 the following proviso shall be added, namely: –

    “Provided that an act done in good faith and in discharge of duties and performance of official function shall not, unless there is corroborative evidence of accumulation by the public office holder of any monetary benefit or asset which is disproportionate to the known sources of income or which cannot be reasonably accounted for, constitute an offence under this clause.”

    PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN

  • FBR issues fresh jurisdictions of commissioner appeals

    FBR issues fresh jurisdictions of commissioner appeals

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued fresh jurisdictions of commissioner appeals.

    The FBR issued following jurisdiction order with effective from December 18, 2019.

    01. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-I), Karachi

    Jurisdiction
    All Cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Large Taxpayers Unit Karachi with their names starting with alphabets from A to L along with their directors/partners.
    Further, he will also continue to exercise jurisdiction over the cases which are already specially assigned by the Board.

    02. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-II), Karachi

    Jurisdiction
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Large Taxpayers Unit Karachi with their names starting with alphabets from M to Z along with their directors/partners.
    Further, he will also continue to exercise jurisdiction over the cases which are already specially assigned by the Board.

    03. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-III), Karachi.
    Jurisdiction
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Corporate Regional Tax Office, Karachi.

    04. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-IV), Karachi
    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Large Taxpayers Unit-II Karachi and Regional Tax Office-II, Karachi.

    05. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-V), Karachi.
    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office-III, Karachi.

    06. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Hyderabad.
    Jurisdiction
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Hyderabad.

    07. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Sukkur.

    Jurisdiction
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Sukkur.

    08. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Quetta

    Jurisdiction
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Quetta.

    09. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-I), Lahore.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Zone-I, II, & AEOI of Large Taxpayers Unit, Lahore.

    10. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-II), Lahore.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Zone-I, II, III, & IV of Corporate Regional Tax Office Lahore.

    11. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-III), Lahore.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Zone-I, II, III of Regional Tax Office-II Lahore and RTO Sahiwal.

    12. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-IV), Lahore.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases specially assigned by the Board time to time. Further, he will also continue to exercise jurisdiction over the cases which are already specially assigned by the Board.

    13. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-V), Lahore.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Zone-III & IV of Large Taxpayers Unit Lahore.

    14. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-VI), Lahore

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Zone-V, VI & VII of Corporate Regional Tax Office Lahore.

    15. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-VII), Lahore.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Zone-IV, V & WHT Zone of Regional Tax Office-II Lahore.

    16. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-I), Islamabad.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Large Taxpayers Unit, Islamabad.

    17. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-II), Islamabad.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Islamabad and Regional Tax Office, Abbottabad.

    18. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-III), Islamabad.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Rawalpindi.

    19. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-IV), Islamabad.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases specially assigned by the Board from time to time. Further, the CIR (Appeals-IV), Islamabad will also continue to exercise jurisdiction over the cases which are already specially assigned by the Board.

    20. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Peshawar.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Peshawar.

    21. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Multan.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Multan.

    22. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Bahawalpur.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Bahawalpur.

    23. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Gujranwala.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Gujranwala.

    24. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Sialkot.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Sialkot.

    25. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-I). Faisalabad.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Corporate Zone and Withholding Zone of Regional Tax Office Faisalabad.

    26. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals-II), Faisalabad.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Lyalpur Zone, Chenab Zone and Jhang Zone of Regional Tax Office Faisalabad.

    27. Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals), Sarghoda.

    Jurisdiction.
    All cases of taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of Regional Tax Office, Sargodha.

  • KCCI assures support to newly elected FPCCI president, successful candidates of BMP

    KCCI assures support to newly elected FPCCI president, successful candidates of BMP

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has assured full support to newly elected president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and successful candidates nominated by BMP panel.

    Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) & Former President KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli has congratulated Chairman Businessmen Panel and the newly elected President FPCCI Mian Anjum Nisar, Senior Vice Chairman BMP Mian Zahid Hussain, Shaukat Ahmed, Zakaria Usman and others on BMP’s impressive victory in FPCCI’s elections.

    In a statement issued, Siraj Teli said that as BMP, under the leadership of Mian Anjum Nisar, has been struggling really hard since many years and this year they succeeded in overthrowing almost all their opponents, the business & industrial community hopes that the newly elected leadership at FPCCI would take practical steps to improve FPCCI’s functioning and make it a vibrant platform.

    Siraj Teli opined that setting the FPCCI free from the clutches of UBG, which remained in power for five consecutive years, was not an easy task but due to hard work and sincere efforts along with BMG’s full support, BMP candidates outshined in FPCCI’s elections and they all deserve to be appreciated.

    He was of the opinion that the new leadership at FPCCI will have to revisit all the policies, completely replace the existing mechanism and devise effective strategies in consultation with all stakeholders to improve FPCCI’s image and make it the leading voice of the entire business and industrial community at the national level.

    Siraj Teli stressed that FPCCI, as a national institution will have to focus on getting the national issues resolved while the newly elected leadership must fulfill their commitments made to the business community during the election campaign. “Every step taken by BMP leadership to improve FPCCI’s performance and in the larger interest of the country will be fully supported by the Karachi Chamber and Businessmen Group as we firmly believe that we all can play the lead role in dealing with the ongoing economic crises if we make collective efforts”, he added.

  • Advance tax exempted on sale of immovable properties on holding period of above five years

    Advance tax exempted on sale of immovable properties on holding period of above five years

    KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has exempted the advance tax on sale of immovable property subject to the property is held for above five years.

    The officials of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said that advance tax under Sub-Section (1) of Section 236C of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 would not be collected if the immovable property is held for a period exceeding five years.

    Under Sub Section 1 of Section 236C of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, Any person responsible for registering, recording or attesting transfer of any immovable property shall at the time of registering, recording or attesting the transfer shall collect from the seller or transferor advance tax at the rate specified in Division X of Part IV of the First Schedule:

    Explanation,—For removal of doubt, it is clarified that the person responsible for registering, recording or attesting transfer includes person responsible for registering, recording or attesting transfer for local authority, housing authority, housing society, co-operative society and registrar of properties.

    Provided that this sub-section shall not apply to a seller, being the dependant of a Shaheed belonging to Pakistan Armed Forces or a person who dies while in the service of the Pakistan Armed Forces or the service of Federal or Provincial Government, in respect of first sale of immovable property acquired from or allotted by the Federal Government or Provincial Government or any authority duly certified by the official allotment authority, and the property acquired or allotted is in recognition of or for services rendered by the Shaheed or the person who dies in service.

    (2) The Advance tax collected under sub-section (1) shall be adjustable

    Provided that where immovable property referred to in sub-section (1) is acquired and disposed of within the same tax year, the tax collected under this section shall be minimum tax.

    According to the ordinance the advance tax rate on sale of immovable properties is one percent of the gross amount of the consideration received. However, the tax rate shall be two percent if a person is not appearing on the Active Taxpayers List.

  • SBP abolishes fee on tax payment through alternate delivery channels

    SBP abolishes fee on tax payment through alternate delivery channels

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced to abolish the fee on payment of government taxes and duties through Alternate Delivery Channels (ADCs) and Over-the-Counter (OTC) from January 1, 2020.

    A statement issued on Saturday said that presently, the taxpayers pay Rs.10 to Rs.50 per transaction for payment of taxes through ADCs depending on the amount of tax paid, and Rs.50 per transaction for the payments through OTC.

    This fee will be borne by SBP instead of taxpayers from January 1, 2020. The change has been notified through SBP FD Circular No.4 of 2019 dated December 27, 2019.

    The decision is part of SBP efforts to promote digital payments and is likely to attract larger number of taxpayers towards digital payment of government taxes and duties.

    The mechanism for online collection of taxes and duties was introduced in March 2018 in collaboration with Federal Board of revenue (FBR) with the primary objective of taxpayers’ facilitation. The tax payers can pay their taxes from the convenience of their homes or offices using internet/mobile banking facilities, through 14000 plus ATMs or any of the 15000 plus branches of commercial banks across the country. So far Rs.346 billion has been collected through this mechanism. The collections through the ADCs/OTC modes are likely to grow exponentially as the awareness about the mechanism improves.

    SBP is also running an awareness campaign to familiarize the taxpayers, tax bar associations, chambers of commerce, clearing and forwarding agents and business community at large about the ADC and OTC payment mechanisms.

    Seminars and awareness sessions are being arranged across the country through the field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation. The first such seminar was held in Karachi on December 26, 2019, which was attended by corporate taxpayers, representatives from chamber of commerce, trade associations, commercial banks, tax bars and audit firms.

    The participants appreciated SBP efforts for promotion of digital payments and said that such sessions are critically important for enhancing public awareness and allaying their fears and apprehensions about digital payments.

  • Return filing due date Dec 31 for all taxpayers

    Return filing due date Dec 31 for all taxpayers

    KARACHI: The income tax return filing date for tax year 2019 is December 31, 2019 for all types of taxpayers, which is unusual considering past years.

    The taxpayers including salaried individuals, business individuals, association of persons (AOPs), final taxpayers, companies falling under special tax year, corporate entities whose financial year ending June 30.

    The filing of annual returns by all the types of taxpayers is unusual as during past years the return filing date paused around December 15 to give ample space and time for corporate entities to file their returns.

    The filing date for salaried individuals, business individuals, AOPs and corporate entities having special tax year was September 30, 2019. While, the filing of annual return for tax year 2019 for companies is December 31, 2019.

    The FBR granted four extensions to taxpayers who were required to file their returns by September 30, 2019 and extended up to December 31, 2019.

    The return filing reached to 2.73 million for tax year 2018. The FBR received around 1.8 million returns for tax year 2019 by December 13, 2019. Therefore, FBR required around one million returns during December 13 to December 31 to reach the return filing number of last tax year.

    Sources in the FBR said that the return filing date would be extended further as filing huge number during remaining days was not possible. While FBR will announce return filing date for retailers under which a general relief may be granted to all the taxpayers.

    The FBR is eying around 3.5 million returns during tax year 2019. Therefore, in order to achieve this number the FBR will need to extend the filing date.

    The last date for filing the return for tax year was extended up to August 9, 2019. Therefore, the experts believe the FBR would continue to allow taxpayers to file their returns till the desired number is achieved.

  • Weekly Review: stock market likely to stay stable

    Weekly Review: stock market likely to stay stable

    KARACHI: The stock market likely to stay during next week owing to transfer second IMF tranche and stable rupee value, analysts said.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limitd said that the market to be positive in the coming week.

    With SBP reserves climbing up and stable Pak Rupee/USD parity the investors’ sentiment should remain positive.

    Furthermore, Pakistan has received second tranche of $452 million of IMF loan. Moreover, new portfolio allocations are expected from the start of the New Year, which can improve the market sentiment and flows.

    The KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 7.2x (2020) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 13.7x and while offering DY of ~6.6 percent versus ~2.5 percent offered by the region.

    The market commenced on a negative note this week, losing 900 points during the intraday trading. Tensions on Indo-Pak border kept the momentum suppressed during the week. Bulls took over after IMF expressed contentment in first quarterly review regarding improvement in external side in the light of market determined exchange and steady improvement on the fiscal front.

    Furthermore, IMF allowed Pakistan to change performance standards for issuance of sovereign guarantees. Albeit market closed at 40,848 points, gaining 16 points (up by 0.04 percent WoW) as 2019 approached its end.

    Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Commercial Banks (43 points), ii) Power Generation & Distribution (42 points), iii) Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (19 points), iv) Engineering (15 points), and v) Cement (13 points).

    Whereas, negative sector-wise contribution came from i) Insurance (31 points), Tobacco (31), Automobile Parts & Accessories (21 points) and Fertilizers (17 points). Scrip-wise positive contributions were led by ENGRO (70 points), HUBC (55 points), OGDC (39 points), PSO (20 points) and UBL (18 points).

    Foreign selling was witnessed this week clocking-in at USD 2.9 million compared to a net buy of USD 3.1 million last week. Selling was witnessed in Exploration & Production (USD 1.5 million) and Commercial Banks (USD 0.7 million).

    On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 10.5 million) and Mutual Funds (USD 7.2 million). Average Volumes settled at 230 million shares (down by 23 percent WoW) while average value traded clocked-in at USD 54 million (down by 35 percent WoW).

  • Law amended to stop NAB taking action against businessmen: Prime Minister

    Law amended to stop NAB taking action against businessmen: Prime Minister

    KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the government has amended law to restrict National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from taking action against business community.

    Addressing at a ceremony of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the prime minister said the powers of NAB had been restricted to the corruption cases of public office holders.

    He said that the business community should be free from coercive action of NAB. The other institutions like FBR and courts are there to deal with cases of business community.

    He said that business community has key role in creation of wealth. He further said that no nation can grow without wealth.

    The prime minister said that the wealth creation was only possible when business community was facilitated.

    He said that in the past there was misconception about making of profit. The prime minister said that there was difference between profiteer and profit making.

    The prime minister said that the government desired the businesses should make profit and attract more investment.

    He said that the government was making all out efforts to improve ease of doing business. He said that in the outgoing year the ease of doing business was improved by 27 points despite challenging economic situation.