KARACHI: Sales tax has been exempted on services provided by beauty parlors or beauty clinics within the province of Sindh if their annual turnover is below Rs2.5 million.
(more…)Month: November 2020
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Appeals against tax orders to be filed electronically from January 01
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday issued draft rules for filing appeals electronically from January 01, 2021.
The FBR issued SRO 1262(I)/2020 to propose amendments in Income Tax Rules, 2002.
According to the SRO the FBR proposed amendments to rule 70 to 70O.
The draft rules are as follow:
76. Appeal to the Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) on web portal: An appeal under Section 127 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 shall be filed, as prescribed on Iris web portal from January 01, 2021.
76A. Date of filing of appeal: The date of appeal shall be the date on which it was filed electronically.
76B. Documents to accompany appeal: (1) the appellant shall electronically attach documents along with appeal namely:
(a) the order appealed against;
(b) notice of demand; and
(c) proof of payment of appeal fee.
(d) any other supporting document(s).
(2) the appellant shall annex an electronic index showing the documents filed under this rule.
76C. Intimation of filing of appeal to the respondent: the appeal shall also be electronically transmitted to the respondent through Iris.
76D. Filing of affidavit regarding contrary facts: Where a fact, which cannot be borne out by or is contrary to the record, is alleged, it shall be stated clearly and concisely by a duly sworn affidavit and shall have to be filed electronically with appeal and shall be produced in original before the Commissioner (Appeals).
76E. Defective appeals etc. (1) Where an appeal is not filed electronically in the manner specified in these rules, an electronic notice shall be issued within three days requiring the appellant or his authorized representative, if any to bring the appeal in conformity with the rules, within the time limitation as specified in sub-section (5) of Section 127 of the Ordinance subject to just exception under sub-section (6) of the aforesaid section and the appeal so received shall not be deemed to have been filed unless the provisions of these rules have been fully complied with.
(2) Where the appellant or his authorized representative does not meet the requirement under sub-rule (1), the matter shall be decided by the Commissioner (Appeals) through appropriate orders.
76F. Power of attorney etc., by authorized representative: Where an authorized representative has been appointed or declared as defined in Section 172 of Ordinance, such representative shall electronically attach with the appeal, the document showing his authority and his/her acceptance thereof, which shall be signed and dated by the representative and shall also specify his capacity in which he/she is acting as such. Further, this shall be produced in original before the Commissioner (Appeals).
76G. Procedure for filing and disposal of stay application: (1) On receipt of say application electronically the official authorized in this behalf shall fix the application for hearing in the following manner, namely:
(a) For application received before 01:00PM on a working day, hearing shall be fixed on the next working day; and
(b) For applications received after 01:00PM on a working day, hearing shall be fixed on the day after the next working day.
(2) Stay applications shall be disposed by the Commissioner (Appeals) electronically within seven days of fixation.
76H. Date and place of hearing of appeal and stay applications: (1) The Commissioner (Appeals) shall issue notices electronically to both the parties to the appeal informing them about the date and place of hearing of appeal or the stay application as the case may be.
(2) The Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) may, where deemed necessary, require the respondent department to submit para-wise comments electronically in response to the appellant’s electronic submissions, if any, on or before the date of hearing.
76I. Hearing of Appeal or stay application: (1) On the day fixed for hearing or any other day to which the hearing is adjourned the appellant shall be heard and the Commissioner (Appeals) shall then hear the respondent against the appeal or stay application and in that case the appellant shall have a right to replay.
(2) The Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) may from time to time adjourn the hearing of the appeal.
76J. Notice to be issued electronically to both parties under Sub-Section (2) of Section 129: The Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) shall issue notices electronically to both parties for providing them a reasonable opportunity to present their stance in case of increase in the amount of any assessment order or decrease in the amount of any refund.
76L. Reports: (1) The Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) shall submit electronically a monthly performance report as prescribed on Iris web portal by the 5th of every month.
(2) Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) shall submit the stay applications disposal report as prescribed on Iris web portal by the 5th and 20th day of every month.
76M. Uploading Manual Orders/Letters Received: The Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) shall make it sure that orders/decisions received from the Tribunal or Higher Courts and all other documents which have been received manually from quarters other than the appellant, are immediately uploaded in Iris in soft form with the relevant case on web portal.
76N. Electronic Order: The order passed electronically on Iris web portal shall not require any seal or signature of the Commissioner (Appeals). The date of order shall be the date as mentioned on the order generated by the system.
76O. Explanation: (1) No case pertaining to the Tax Year 2014 onwards, shall be filed manually from January 01, 2021, and the cases already filed manually before the said date shall be processed as per the SRO 279(I)/2018 dated March 05, 2018. All such cases shall be finalized as per law but not later than June 30, 2021. If any case is left out or remanded back by the Tribunal or Higher Judiciary, from the cases processed earlier manually, the Commissioner (Appeals) shall process it electronically with the effect from July 01, 2021.
(2) The cases pertaining to periods prior to the Tax Year 2014 would be processed as per SRO 279(1)/2018 dated March 05, 2018.
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Country’s weekly foreign exchange reserves increase by $467 million
KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country have increased by $467 million to $20.552 billion by week ended November 20, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $20.085 billion by week ended November 13, 2020.
The official reserves of the SBP increased by $484 million to $13.415 billion by week ended November 20, 2020 as against $12.931 billion a week ago.
The SBP attributed the increase to official government inflows.
The reserves held by commercial banks eased by $17 million to $7.137 billion by week ended November 20, 2020 as against $7.154 billion a week ago.
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Stock market gains 654 points
KARACHI: The stock market gained 654 points on Thursday as trading activities were seen in energy sector.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 41,031 points as against 40,377 points showing an increase of +654 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market followed the momentum shown yesterday, and added another 750 points during the session, closing +654 points.
The index was again led by E&P stocks in the beginning, but following the dip in international crude oil prices during the active session, E&P stocks also saw a reversion.
Cement sector stocks rebounded well with PIOC and MLCF hitting upper circuits. After a lull, observed in past week or so, Cement sector performed well today with considerably high volumes.
Banking sector stocks remained range bound and did not show any excitement, be it price or volume. Overall volumes grew further to 388 million shares as compared to below 200 million volumes in past several sessions.
Among scrips, UNITY topped the volumes with 49.9 million shares, followed by TRG (33.2 million) and MLCF (29.6 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+150 points), E&P (+89 points), Banks (+65 points), Technology (+50 points) and Power (+42 points).
Volumes increased from 241.9 shares to 389.2 million shares (+61 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 63 percent to reach US$ 100.6 million as against US$ 61.7 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, TRG, MLCF, HUMNL and PIBTL, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+38 points), TRG (+32 points), PPL (+32 points), HUBC (+32 points) and MLCF (+30 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include DAWH (-5 points), SCBPL (-3 points), PMPK (-2 points), UBL (-2 points) and ICI (-2 points).
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Rupee ends firmer against dollar
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended firmer against the dollar on Thursday as inflows were sufficient to meet the demand for import and corporate payments.
The rupee ended Rs159.26 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs159.27 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency dealers said that the supply of the foreign currency was sufficient to meet the demand for import and corporate payments.
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Volunteer helps FBR in broadening of tax base
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is actively pursuing its mission to raise awareness about tax compliance and encourage citizens to fulfill their national duty by paying taxes and making accurate declarations of their income and assets.
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Foreign investors express concerns over lack of attention on IPR protection
KARACHI: Foreign investors operating in Pakistan have expressed concerns over lack of attention by government authorities on protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
The concerns have been expressed in a survey conducted by Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI).
The OICCI announced the key findings of its latest IPR Survey on Wednesday. The OICCI IPR Survey 2020 conducted during September-October, which reflected the assessment of the foreign investors, on the state of intellectual property protection in Pakistan.
Effective protection of IPR comprising of Copyrights, Patents and Trade Mark is critical for attracting and retaining FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the country.
“OICCI IPR Survey 2020 respondents have expressed concern that IPR protection does not attract due attention from some key stakeholders, including the government, Law Enforcement authorities (LEA), media and even the consumers,” according to the study.
Long drawn judicial proceedings, lack of awareness and appreciation about IPR, and lengthy timelines for granting IP rights were some of the key concerns highlighted in the survey.
Overall 40 percent of the respondents indicated that it takes 1 to 3 years to resolve a standard IPR dispute. Respondents also expressed concern regarding the penalty on IPR violation being insufficient to act as a deterrent and the IP Tribunals not being fully functional.
Currently, over 90 percent of the OICCI members prefer reliance on their own resources for monitoring threat of IPR violations. However, there is a great desire for all the IP owners to work in partnership with the government authorities for a better IPR regime in Pakistan.
The foreign investors participating in the survey expect that IPR regulator in Pakistan, IPOP, would take the lead in strengthening IPR regime in Pakistan; automate and fast track process of registering IP; massively promote awareness on the importance of IPR and its impact for business/investment; upgrade skills and motivate LEA to proactively arrest the abuse of IPR.
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Procedure to get exemption certificate for imported goods
ISLAMABAD – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has established a clear procedure for taxpayers to obtain exemption certificates for the exemption from advance income tax on imported goods.
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Return filing may reach 6.5 million if NTN holders make compliance
ISLAMABAD: The number of return filers may reach near 6.5 million if persons obtained National Tax Number (NTN) make compliance.
According to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) more than 3.5 million are those NTN holders are not filing income tax return.
Under Section 114 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 the filing of income tax return is mandatory for person whom the NTN is issued.
The existing income tax return filing is around 3 million for tax year 2019.
The FBR has launched a campaign to aware persons about their obligation. The revenue board also warned people of penal action in case remained non-compliant beyond the deadline for filing tax return for tax year 2020.
The last date for filing income tax return is December 08, 2020 and FBR has made it clear that no further extension will be granted beyond this date.
The FBR said that it had obtained information of various undeclared transactions from withholding agents and through third party.
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Stock market ends up by 514 points amid activity in energy sector
KARACHI: The stock market witnessed a gain of 514 points on Wednesday as trading activity was seen in energy sector following increase in prices of international crude oil.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,378 points as against 39,863 points showing an increase of 514 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that E&P stocks drove the market today, contributing surge in the index, with OGDC and PPL hitting upper circuit at close.
Crude oil prices increased significantly overnight and maintained the momentum during today’s session as well, which particularly helped those Investors concerned with decline in Cement dispatches to switch to better alternative.
Banks, Textile and Fertilizer sector also contributed to the positivity. Cement sector continued the downturn today and traded below respective LDCPs the entire session.
Among scrips, FFBLR topped the volumes with 28.5 million, followed by TRG (21.1 million) and UNITY (20.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+280 points), Banks (+93 points), Technology (+78 points), O&GMCs (+31 points) and Fertilizer (+25 points).
Volumes increased from 174.7 million shares to 213.4 million shares (+22 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 42 percent to reach US$ 60.7 million as against US$ 42.6 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, UNITY, HASCOL, FFBL and OGDC, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PPL (+93 points), OGDC (+90 points), POL (+68 points), SYS (+41 points) and TRG (+34 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-23 points), LUCK (-17 points), FCCL (-9 points), EFERT (-8 points) and ABOT (-6 points).