Day: July 22, 2020

LTU Karachi to hold e-Katcheri on July 24

KARACHI: Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Karachi will hold e-Katcheri on July 24, 2020 for efficient service delivery and ensure public trust.

The program has been launched in compliance with the directive of the prime minister to conduct e-Khuli Katcheri to stay in contact with the public by all available means and provide them accessible platform to raise their issues for timely resolution.

In this regard Badaruddin Ahmed Qureshi, Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue, LTUK Karachi will conduct e-Khuli Katcheri on Friday from 11:30 AM to 12:30 noon through Zoom video link.

The taxpayers facilitation wing of the FBR recently circulated about the program directing that e-Katcheri would be conducted by every tier of FBR in the second week of every month on regular basis.

The FBR directed all the tax offices to ensure that all proceedings of the e-Katcheri are property recorded and tasks should be assigned to concerned officers accordingly.

The tax offices have also been directed to submit performance report on the outcome of the meeting with public.

In the wake of COVID-19, the tax authorities shall conduct one e-Katcheri at all tiers of FBR in the second week of every month. In the backdrop of COVID-19, only e-Katcheris shall be conducted for the time being until normalcy of the situation.

July 22, 2020
SBP enhances financing limit to Rs2 billion for renewable energy schemes

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has increased cumulative financing limit to Rs2 billion and also enhanced project size to 5MW.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday, the central bank said it had enhanced the scope of its Refinance Scheme for Renewable Energy by allowing financing under category III of the scheme to solar and wind based energy sale companies.

In light of the feedback received from stakeholders, the size of the project established by vendor/ supplier/ energy sale company has been enhanced from 1 MW to 5 MW. Accordingly, the cumulative financing limit has also been increased from Rs.1 billion to Rs.2 billion.

SBP Financing Scheme for Renewable Energy was announced in June 2016with an aim to help addressing the challenges of energy shortages and climate change in the country.

The scheme comprised of two categories: Category 1 allowed financing for setting up of renewable energy power projects with capacity ranging from 1 MW to 50 MW for own use or selling of electricity to the national grid or combination of both.

Category II allowed financing to domestic, agriculture, commercial and industrial borrowers for installation of renewable energy based projects/ solutions of up-to 1 MW to generate electricity for own use or selling to the grid/distribution company under net metering.

Later, in July 2019, SBP introduced a new Category III for facilitating financing to vendors/suppliers for installation of wind and solar systems/solutions of upto 1 MW. SBP also launched a Shariah complaint version of the scheme in August 2019.

Since the introduction of the scheme, total outstanding financing under the Scheme has reached to Rs.15.6 billion for 217 projects having potential of adding 292 MW of energy supply.

This revision in the scheme is expected to not only attract fresh local and foreign investment in the sector but also facilitate production of clean energy in the country, helping in managing climate change.

July 22, 2020
Stock market gains 104 points amid selling pressure

KARACHI: The stock market gained 104 points on Wednesday amid profit booking in scripts of many sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 37,805 points as against 37,700 points showing an increase of 104 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a similar fashion as yesterday, whereby cement, fertilizer, banks saw profit booking / selling pressure, which was counterweighed by index heavy weights HUBC, ENGRO.

Today MCB, HBL and Cement sector stocks (particularly LUCK) saved the day. ECC’s approval of Funds for construction sector gave Cement sector the reason to trade.

International crude oil prices increased over the day, which helped E&P stocks staged recovery. Cement sector topped the volumes with 59.8 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (46.6 million) and Technology (40.2 million).

Among scrips, HASCOL realized trading volumes of 21.2 million, followed by UNITY (20 million) and AGL (19.2 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+79 points), Autos (+40 points), O&GMCs (+26 points), E&P (+20 points), Power (-37 points), Fertilizer (-25 points) and Insurance (-15 points).

Volumes declined from 457.2 million shares to 405.5 million shares (-11 percent DoD). Average trade value also declined by 9 percent to reach US$ 106.2 million as against US$ 116.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, UNITY, AGL, FCCL and MLCF, which formed 24 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+71 points), MTL (+28 points), PSO (+18 points), MCB (+16 points) and HBL (+14 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-35 points), UBL (-34 points), ENGRO (-16 points), TRG (-11 points), and EFUG (-8 points).

July 22, 2020
Rupee gains 27 paisas against dollar on improved inflows

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained 27 paisas against dollar on Wednesday owing to improved inflows of export receipts and remittances.

The rupee ended Rs167.63 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs167.90 in interbank foreign exchange market.

Currency experts said that improved inflows of export receipts and remittances helped the rupee to gain the value.

The workers’ remittances rose by a significant 50.7 percent during June 2020 to reach monthly record high $2.46 billion compared with $1.63 billion in June 2019.

Similarly, on a cumulative basis, workers’ remittances increased to a historic high level of $23.12 billion during FY20, witnessing a growth of 6.4 percent over $21.74 billion during FY19.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the import bill of the country fell by 18.6 percent to $44.57 billion as compared with $54.76 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

This helped the country to curtail the trade deficit for the year. The trade deficit of the country shrank by 27 percent to $23.18 billion during fiscal year 2019/2020 as compared with the deficit of $31.8 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

July 22, 2020
Capital gain tax to be collected on July 30: NCCPL

KARACHI: National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) on Wednesday announced to collect capital gain tax for month of June 2020 on July 30, 2020.

The NCCPL in a statement said that the aggregate amount of CGT arising on disposal of shares at Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period June 01, 2020 to June 30, 2020, would be collected on Thursday July 30, 2020 through respective settling banks of the clearing members, along with refund or adjustments on the basis of amount collected up to previous month.

All Clearing Members are advised to ensure requisite amount in their respective settling bank’s account.

Necessary details and reports for the said period have already been made available in the CGT System, the NCCPL said.

Further, the aggregate amount of CGT arising on trading of future commodity contracts at Pakistan Mercantile Exchange for the period June 01, 2020 to June 30, 2020, would also be collected from the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange on Thursday July 30, 2020. Necessary details and reports for the said period have already been made available.

Moreover, the aggregate amount of CGT arising on redemption of units of open end mutual funds have also been finalized for the period June 01, 2020 to June 30, 2020. Necessary details and reports have already been made available in the CGT System.

The NCCPL further said that consequent to amendments introduced in section 37 A pertaining to adjustment of carry forward of losses for three years, net capital gains as on June 30, 2020 has been adjusted with net capital loss as on June 30, 2019 and accordingly any CGT collected thereon if any, shall be refunded/adjusted.

July 22, 2020
Banks, exchange companies no more required to give details of remittances sent abroad for education

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) shall not ask banks and exchange companies to provide details of persons sending remittances abroad related to education.

Through Finance Act, 2020, the Section 236R of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 has been omitted. This section was introduced for collection of advance tax on education related expenses remitted abroad.

This section was introduced through Finance Act 2015 under which banks, financial institutions, foreign exchange companies or any other person responsible for remitting foreign currency abroad shall collect advance tax at the rate of five percent from the payer of education related expenses.

Tax collected under the section was adjustable against the income of the person remitting payment of education related expenses.

The section defined “education related expenses” as tuition fee, boarding and lodging expenses, any payment for distant learning to any institution or university in a foreign country and any other expense related or attributable to foreign education.

This section was an important source of gathering information of those persons having taxable income in Pakistan and sending foreign exchange abroad taking advantage of education expenses.

Under Section 165 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, withholding agents are required to provide details of persons including CNIC, NTN and addresses, whose tax was deducted at the time of transaction.

However, deletion of this section the banks and exchange companies would no more required to share details of persons who are sending foreign exchange abroad for education related expenses.

July 22, 2020