Pkrevenue.com

Month: December 2020

  • Rupee ends firmer

    Rupee ends firmer

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended firmer against the dollar on Wednesday amid higher demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs160.48 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs160.47 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that the demand for import and corporate payments were higher during the day. They said rising demand of the foreign currency from corporate side normally seen on the higher side in the month of December due to closing of the quarter.

    They said that the market also witnessed supply of the dollar in the shape of export receipts and workers remittances.

  • World Bank approves $300 million for two projects in Pakistan

    World Bank approves $300 million for two projects in Pakistan

    ISLAMABAD: The executive board of the World Bank has approved $300 million for financing two projects in Pakistan – the Sindh Resilience Project and the Solid Waste Emergency and Efficiency Project.

    These investments will bolster Pakistan’s efforts to build resilience to natural hazards such as floods and droughts in the Sindh province, and will strengthen solid waste management in Karachi to tackle recurrent urban flooding and public health emergencies in the city, the World Bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

    “Building resilience to natural disasters and health emergencies is an important and urgent agenda in Pakistan, that will help save lives and protect the economy,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.

    “The debilitating impact of recent floods in Karachi, droughts and extreme rainfall in Sindh, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic, make it imperative that risk reduction investments strengthen multi-sectoral dialogue and coordination at the city, provincial, and national levels to ensure protections for vulnerable communities and fight the spread of disease.”

    The US$200 million Sindh Resilience Project Additional Financing will help the government better manage climate and disaster risks, including floods, droughts, and public health emergencies.

    The project will strengthen linkages between disaster risk management and the health sector by establishing the Sindh Emergency Service to strengthen capacity for disaster preparedness and emergency response, including health crises such as COVID-19.

    The project also improves irrigation infrastructure to protect vulnerable communities living in rural areas, which will directly benefit 750,000 citizens in drought-prone areas of Kirthar range hills and the Nagarparkar region in the Tharparkar District.

    “The establishment of Sindh Emergency Service will greatly enhance the government’s responsiveness to natural disasters and emergencies, particularly in a megacity like Karachi where many lives are lost due to insufficient emergency medical services,” said Ahsan Tehsin, Task Team Leader for the Sindh Resilience Project.

    “The project will also improve water security for rural communities that suffer from chronic malnutrition and poverty and are forced to migrate due to water insecurity.”

    The US$100 million Solid Waste Emergency and Efficiency Project (SWEEP) will improve solid waste management services in Karachi – Pakistan’s largest city of more than 16 million people – and upgrade critical solid waste infrastructure to reduce urban flooding and public health risks.

    The project focuses on emergency waste removal to restore stormwater drainage capacity before the next monsoon season, especially in vulnerable communities around drainage and waste collection sites.

    The project will improve living conditions for at least half a million residents of Karachi and increase protections for workers by introducing safety protocols that improve labor conditions.

    SWEEP also addresses deficiencies in existing solid waste infrastructure by constructing and upgrading critical infrastructure, such as collection, transfer and disposal facilities.

    It also leverages the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi Project (approved on June 27, 2020) to advance long-term planning, policy reforms, and behavioral changes required to improve the solid waste management sector.

    “Engaging citizens and community members, including informal workers, is essential for sustainable and safer waste management solutions,” said Suhaib Rasheed, Task Team Leader for the Solid Waste Emergency and Efficiency Project. “Equally important is a focus on financial sustainability, which will require continued efforts to develop private sector partnerships and sustainable revenues streams to offset the costs of delivering these vital services.”

  • FBR finalizes return form for small manufacturers after filing expiry date

    FBR finalizes return form for small manufacturers after filing expiry date

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday issued a simplified single-page income tax return form for small manufacturers a day after when the last date for filing income tax return was expired.

    The FBR issued SRO 1316(I)/2020 dated December 09, 2020 to notify the simplified income tax return form for individuals and Association of Persons (AOPs) having annual turnover less than Rs50 million.

    Previously, the FBR issued the draft of this form on November 26, 2020 through SRO 1261(I)/2020 for seeking feedback from stakeholders.

    The FBR issued the finalized return form for the small manufacturers for tax year 2020. Interestingly, the date for tax year 2020 has been expired on December 08, 2020 except for the corporate units which have due date for return filing till December 31, 2020.

    So far the date for return filing was not further extended beyond December 08, 2020. But it is strong believe that the date may be extended to allow small manufacturers to file return under the newly notified return form.

    Tax experts said that the FBR may not allow date extension for small manufacturers without extending the date for all taxpayers who have last return filing date on September 30 and extended up to December 08, 2020.

    They said that the FBR had allowed general extension in date for filing tax return at the time of tax amnesty in the past.

    The simplified return form of income has been issued for small scale manufacturers having turnover less than Rs50 million. A single page draft wealth statement form is also issued along with the draft return of income.

    In the draft return form, the manufacturers would be required to provide limited information about their earnings and expenditures during a year.

    The details, as per draft return of income, to be provided by the manufacturers are included: gross sale excluding sales tax and federal excise duty; cost of sales; opening stock; purchases (domestic/imports); closing stock; other direct expenses; gross profit; profit and loss expenses; total income; tax chargeable; tax payable; tax already paid through utility bills; net tax payable/refund etc.

    Similarly, the taxpayer shall require to provide details, as per draft wealth statement form, are included: immovable assets; manufacturing unit; moveable assets; business capital; investment/advance; cash in hand/bank; loan/liabilities; net assets; reconciliation of net assets; net assets current year; net assets previous year; increase/decrease in net assets; income as per return; other inflows (gift, loan, remittances, etc.); outflows (gift, loan etc.); and personal expenses.

  • Stock market ends flat in range bound activities

    Stock market ends flat in range bound activities

    KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 14 points on Tuesday amid range bound trading activities during the day.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 42,102 points as against 42,115 points showing a decline of 14 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market remained range bound with an oscillation of +119 points and -167 points and closing the session -14 points.

    Cement sector stocks bounced on the news of further investment in Cement sector in Punjab, however, close of session saw selling pressure that brought the prices down. Banking sector performed relatively better with growing interest in NBP, MCB and UBL, whereas trading volumes also improved in the previous sessions despite consistent selling from foreign investors. International crude prices stay muted which became the reason for consolidation in E&P sector stocks.

    Tech stocks continued the trailblazing performance, with NETSOL trading near upper circuit and strong interest in TRG despite the price coming down. Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 31.6 million shares, followed by FFL (23.1 million) and TRG (22.5 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+48 points), Banks (+35 points), Engineering (+16 points), E&P (-37 points) and Technology (-27 points).

    Volumes increased from 380.5 million shares to 409.6 million shares (+8 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 3 percent to reach US$ 115.4 million as against US$ 111.8 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, FFL, TRG, HASCOL and UNITY, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MLCF (+19 points), UBL (+14 points), ENGRO (+13 points), ISL (+11 points) and MCB (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-19 points), FFC (-15 points), SYS (-14 points), PSO (-14 points) and SEARL (-13 points).

  • Rupee ends down by 15 paisas on high import payment demand

    Rupee ends down by 15 paisas on high import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by 15 paisas against the dollar on Tuesday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs160.47 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs160.32 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that the demand for import and corporate payments were higher during the day. They said rising demand of the foreign currency from corporate side normally seen on the higher side in the month of December due to closing of the quarter.

    They said that the market also witnessed supply of the dollar in the shape of export receipts and workers remittances. However, such inflows were not sufficient to support the rupee.

  • Date extended for Rs40,000 prize bonds withdrawal

    Date extended for Rs40,000 prize bonds withdrawal

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday announced extension in date for encashment, replacement and conversion of unregistered Rs40,000 denomination prize bonds.

    The SBP said that the date for withdrawal of the prize bonds had been extended up to December 30, 2021.

    The central bank said that the Finance Division, Government of Pakistan has extended the last date for encashment / replacement / conversion of Rs. 40,000/- denomination National Prize Bonds (bearer) till December 30, 2021 vide their Notification No. F.16(3)GS-I/2014-1603 dated November 26, 2020.

    The branch / region wise consolidated data of Rs. 40,000/- denomination prize bonds held by them on last date i.e. December 30, 2021 shall be shared latest by December 31, 2021, as per the instructions stipulated in Para 4 of CMD Circular No. 4 dated June 30, 2020.

    All other instructions in this regard shall remain unchanged.

    Kindly disseminate aforementioned instructions to all branches and concerned officials for information and strict compliance, the SBP said.

  • Date for filing income tax returns may be extended

    Date for filing income tax returns may be extended

    ISLAMABAD: The government may announce an extension in last date for filing return of income and wealth statement for tax year 2020, sources said.

    Today i.e. Tuesday December 08, 2020 is the last date for filing income tax returns for tax year 2020. As per Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 the last date for filing tax return is September 30. However, this year the income tax return form was finalized on September 08, 2020 and as per law taxpayers should be provided statutory time limit of 90 days. Therefore, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the demand of tax bars and other stakeholders, extended the date by 90 days in one go.

    This 90-day period is expiring today and the FBR has made it clear that it will not further extend the date as statutory time limit had already been granted.

    Tax bars and business community are continuously pressing the tax authorities to extend the date as online portal IRIS was making miscalculation.

    The sources in FBR said it was agreed at the Board level that the deadline would not be extended further in order to stop the tradition of repeated extension and to ensure compliance by due date.

    However, they said that the stakeholders including business community had approached the Prime Minister through the advisor on finance to intervene and allow a reasonable time for filing the annual return.

    A large number of returns have already been filed on the FBR portal, especially the salaried persons conveniently filed their returns through wizard based application. To some estimates around half of the returns filers, who filed their returns for tax year 2020, has made compliance by evening of Monday December 07, 2020.

    Therefore, to accommodate a number of around 1.5 million on the last date is impossible. The FBR issued instructions to the field offices to facilitate the taxpayers seeking date extension through commissioner approval. Further, the FBR also allowed extension to many taxpayers through one application.

    Tax experts said that the date extension through commissioner approval was already available in the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and by this way this issue may not be resolved and there is need to allow general relaxation in timing.

    One of the major issues creating hurdles is significant increase in coronavirus cases. Due to resurgence of COVID the government and private sector have already slashed the work force to the half. In this scenario the return filing process through tax consultants/practitioners and third party filing may be affected.

    Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) in its letter on December 02, 2020 urged the tax authorities to extend the last date for filing income tax returns up to January 31, 2020 after considering the significant rise in coronavirus cases in the country.

    Many other issued highlighted by taxpayers and other stakeholders including calculation errors on the IRIS portal. The FBR sources said that these issues were discussed and most of those were resolved.

    The sources said that extension in date may be announced later today evening.

  • FBR decides releasing missing amounts of sales tax refunds

    FBR decides releasing missing amounts of sales tax refunds

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday decided to release missing amounts of sales tax refunds that were stuck up due to design flaws in the Fully Automated Sales Tax e-Refunds (FASTER) System.

    In this regard the FBR issued Sales Tax Circular No. 03 of 2020 to prescribe standard procedure for sanctioning of missing amounts stuck in FASTER system due to system glitches.

    The FBR said that in the wake of rollback of zero-rating extended through SRO 1125 of 2011 issued under Section 3(2)(b) and (6); 8(1)(b); and 71 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 with effect from January 01, 2012, the FASTER system was introduced to process and sanction exporters’ refunds expeditiously.

    Although, FASTER was rolled out inside the very first quarter of tax year 2020, yet it continued to malfunction on multiple counts producing suboptimal outcomes, the FBR added.

    “One evidence of FASTER’s malfunctioning was that the system would simply miss out on sales tax credits of various taxpayers stalling processing of their refund claims,” the FBR said, adding that this system glitches created problems for exporting taxpayers in terms of uncertainty and stuck-up liquidity, and for the tax administration in terms of credibility deficit.

    The FBR said that the matter was analyzed threadbare at the head office, and found out that the problem of missing amounts cropped up due to the very designing of the FASTER module plausibly on three counts, namely:

    (i) FASTER was programmed to pick the least of the three opening balances of carry forward of previous month from (a) sales tax return; (b) Annex-H; and (c) the e-RPO generated;

    (ii) FASTER module’s non-synchronization with STRIVE i.e. Serial 7a and 7b of the Sales Tax Return; and

    (iii) Misapplication of section 8b to certain exporters in FASTER module.

    “These design flaws resulted in wide-going anxiety amongst the exporters’ community as large number of missing amounts claimed by them was not being reflected on their e-RPO after processing by the system,” the FBR said, adding that the matter having two dimensions, that is, improving the system design for future glitch –free processing of refund claims in FASTER, and devising a mechanism to deal with the past missing amount cases expeditiously and judiciously, has been resolved as follows:

    (i) Future Processing Module

    The problem of opening balance has been overcome by de-linking the opening balance of Sales Tax Return and Annex – H effectively, and linking it to the previous e-RPO alone. Going forward, this improvement in the FASTER module will not only solve the issue of missing amounts arising due to opening balances but also the issue of non-synchronizing of FASTER system with the Sales Tax Return and application of Section 8B on certain exporters.

    (ii) Process of Past Missing Amounts

    The issue of past missing amounts has been solved as under:

    (a) That, in all cases wherein the missing amounts could be effectively pulled up by the system, have already been communicated to taxpayers for re-filing after adequate modifications in the refund claims/sales tax return;

    (b) That, in all remaining cases, where a taxpayer believes that a material amount of his refund claims has been unaccounted for, he may apply to the Deputy Commissioner concerned; and

    (c) That, the deputy commissioner will examine the case and after due verification, will sanction the due amount.

    The FBR directed chief commissioners concerned to keep a complete log of the pending missing amount refund cases in their formations and ensure their disposal and processing in the shortest possible time as per law.

  • Banks observe extended working hours to facilitate taxpayers

    Banks observe extended working hours to facilitate taxpayers

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has instructed banks across the country to observe extended hours on December 8, 2020, in a move aimed at facilitating taxpayers in making timely payments of duties and taxes.

    (more…)
  • Share market ends down by 92 points

    Share market ends down by 92 points

    KARACHI: The share market ended down by 92 points on Monday while trading in narrow range during the day.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 42,115 points as against 42,207 points, showing a decline of 92 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range today after opening on a positive note with +41 points.

    The session saw index swaying +114 points and -160 points, demonstrating Investors general lack of interest due to concerns over political uncertainty.

    Selling pressure was mostly evident in Cement sector stocks, however, E&P stocks also failed to perform amid sticky oil prices in the international market.

    Technology sector stocks performed relatively better with NETSOL hitting upper circuit, while TRG trading in the positive zone.

    Although ASL and ISL increased product prices, the market didn’t react as positively as they could have. Among scrips, TRG topped the volumes with 41.2 million shares, followed by UNITY (33.2 million) and GGLR1 (18 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-54 points), Cement (-26 points), O&GMCs (-14 points), Banks (-12 points), Power (-12 points), Technology (+19 points) and Insurance (+14 points).

    Volumes declined from 427.9 million shares to 380.5 million shares (-11 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 2 percent to reach US$ 111.6 million as against US$ 113.3 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, UNITY, JSCL, PRL and AVN, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (+16 points), AICL (+13 points), BAHL (+12 points), NESTLE (+9 points) and EPCL (+7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-27 points), PPL (-25 points), MCB (-15 points), DAWH (-10 points) and LUCK (-10 points).