Pkrevenue.com

Day: April 13, 2021

  • Normal corporate tax rate for banking sector recommended

    Normal corporate tax rate for banking sector recommended

    KARACHI: Foreign investors have recommended that corporate tax rates for the banking sector should be aligned with other sectors.

    At present the banking sector is paying 35 percent corporate tax rate as compared with 29 percent corporate tax rate for other sectors.

    Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) in its proposals for budget 2021/2022 submitted to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) recommended that corporate tax rates for the banking sector should be aligned with other sectors.

    Further super tax relief, as granted to other industries, should be given to banking sector as well.

    Regarding the issue of Tax Deduction on Profit on Debt under section 151 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, the OICCI recommended that there should be a uniform withholding tax rate of 15 percent for all payments of profit on debt by omitting below provision inserted through Finance Act, 2020:

    “Provided that the rate shall be 10 percent in cases where the taxpayer furnishes a certificate to the payer of profit that during the tax year yield or profit paid is rupees five hundred thousand rupees or less”, and Circular be withdrawn, to avoid litigation between banks and department.

    For enhanced rate of tax on Additional income from additional investment in Federal Government Securities (Rule 6C of Seventh Schedule), the OICCI recommended Rule 6C of seventh schedule of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 should be deleted whereby enhanced rate of 37.5 percent is applied on banks income from additional investment in Federal Government Securities.

    According to Rules for person not appearing in Active Taxpayer List (Section 100BA and Tenth Schedule) if a withholding tax agent is satisfied that a person not appearing in Active Taxpayers List (ATL) is not required to file return, then before deducting tax he will furnish to the Commissioner a notice carrying particulars of taxpayer along with reason on the basis of which it is considered that the person is not required to file a return.

    The OICCI recommended to delete the rule as branch managers are not conversant with tax laws. Alternatively, if FBR is satisfied that a person is not required to file return of income, his CNIC/Name should be included in an Exempt Taxpayer List (Similar to ATL) which should be issued periodically.

    The original provision of the Seventh Schedule should be restored where provision for bad debts as per the Prudential Regulations of SBP and supported by an Auditors certificate was allowable as a tax deduction to the banks. Alternatively, threshold for allowing provision for bad debts should be increased to 2 percent of gross advances to corporate customers.

    The rule 9 of the Seventh Schedule of ITO 2001 should be deleted as it is being misused and leading to unnecessary litigation.

  • Car sales register 37pc growth in nine months

    Car sales register 37pc growth in nine months

    KARACHI: The sales of locally assembled cars registered 37 percent growth in first nine months (July – March) 2020/2021 owing to higher demand following ease in coronavirus restriction during the period.

    According to Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) the car sales recorded 134,522 units during first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared with 98,425 units in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    Analysts attributed the rise in car sales to ease in restrictions related to coronavirus during the current fiscal year, which resulted in acceleration in economic activities.

    According to analysts of Topline Securities, the car sales have increased by 27 percent MoM in March 2021 (highest since March 2019), taking 9MFY21 sales growth to 37 percent YoY.

    The same, including Lucky Motors Corporation (KIA, non-member of PAMA), is up by around 20 percent MoM (highest since October 2018) with 9MFY21 sales growth estimated at around 46 percent YoY.

    Sales are up 198 percent YoY (as reported by PAMA) in March 2021, however YoY sales growth is misleading, in their view, because of lockdowns in March last year due to COVID-19.

    Indus Motor Company (INDU) sales increased the most by 53 percent MoM as the company had witnessed supply issues in Feb-2021. Sales growth was primarily driven by Hilux sales, which were up by 103 percent MoM.

    New entrants in the industry, Hyundai Nishat sold 723 units in March 2021 with the inclusion of Hyundai Elantra, while Lucky Motor Corporation sold around 2,000 units, as per our channel checks.

    Atlas Honda (ATLH) recorded motorbike sales of 125,030 units in March 2021, up 20 percent MoM. In 9MFY21, sales have increased by 25 percent YoY.

    Tractor sales in Mar-2021 are up by 89 percent YoY and 24 percent MoM.

    Millat Tractors (MTL) recorded increase of 71 percent YoY (+17 percent MoM) while Al Ghazi Tractors (AGTL) sales increased by 133 percent YoY (+40 percent MoM), respectively.

  • Share market gains 71 points in narrow range trading

    Share market gains 71 points in narrow range trading

    KARACHI: The share market increased by 71 points on Tuesday in narrow range trading session, analysts said.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,048 points as against previous day’s closing of 44,978 points, showing an increase of 71 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range between -198 points and +155 points, closing the session +71 points.

    Main board scrips have largely been in consolidation and today was no different. Banking sector stocks inched up with particular interest in UBL, especially by the end of session.

    Technology stocks witnessed a see-saw moment when NETSOL rebounded and hit upper circuit, whereas TRG (which went upper circuit yesterday) bore selling pressure and traded below LDCP. Among small caps, GGL, GGGL, HUMNL and TELE remained in the limelight.

    Among scrips, FNEL topped the volumes with 106.5 million shares, followed by UNITY (29.8 million) and BYCO (28.5 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include BANKS (+89 points), O&GMCs (+15 points), Technology (-59 points), and Power (-19 points).

    Volumes declined from 503.5 million shares to 473.4 million shares (-6 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 8 percent to reach US$ 120.8 million as against US$ 130.7 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include FNEL, UNITY, BYCO, TRG and WTL, which formed 47 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include UBL (+28 points), HBL (+18 points), BAHL (+17 points), SNGP (+13 points) and FFBL (+12 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-67 points), ENGRO (-28 points), HUBC (-19 points), MLCF (-4 points) and KOHC (-4 points).

  • Rupee falls by eight paisas on higher import payment demand

    Rupee falls by eight paisas on higher import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee fell by eight paisas against the dollar on Tuesday owing to bank holiday a day ahead that may create pressure on import payment demand.

    The rupee ended Rs152.83 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs152.75 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the rupee witnessed a decline due to higher dollar demand for import and corporate payment as banks likely close on Wednesday due to Zakat deduction on the first day of Ramazan ul Mubarak.

    The currency experts said that the rupee may continue to gain value in coming days owing to substantial increase in inflows of workers remittances and export receipts.

  • Abolishing withholding tax, reducing sales tax rate on telecom services recommended

    Abolishing withholding tax, reducing sales tax rate on telecom services recommended

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been urged to abolish withholding tax rate at 12 percent on telecom services to promote the accessibility of internet/data services to the low-income group.

    Similarly, Federal Excise Duty (FED) is charged at 17 percent on telecom services which is on higher side as compared to other sectors, and general rate.

    Provincial authorities levy a much lower rate of sales tax on other services. Since sales tax is a consumption tax (on usage), the decrease in sales tax rate will result in increased usage of telecom services and consequently drive tax collection upwards.

    There should be single sales tax rate across all jurisdiction to remove the anomalies and undue hardships being faced by telecom sector in terms of compliances in different jurisdictions, thus, to provide ease of doing business.

    These recommendations have been sent by Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for the budget 2021/2022.

    The OICCI further recommended that since the insertion of 9th Schedule in Sales Tax Act, 1990 effective 1st July 2014, the matter is in litigation. This tax should be abolished, ab initio, by accepting the decision of Lahore High Court as the resolution of the matter will result in additional upside on the corporate tax side for the exchequer and eliminate the undue litigations.

    On the issue of advance tax on Auction/ Renewal of telecom licenses at 10 percent under section 236A of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, the OICCI recommended that this tax should be abolished being irrational and burdensome on CMOs keeping in view the financial/ tax position.

    The chamber said that as large utility providers, Cellular Mobile Operators’ (CMO) are subject to deduction/collection of withholding of income tax on large number of transactions, which increases the cost and complexity of tax compliance and an additional administrative burden for the telecom sector and negatively impacts the overall business environment.

    It is recommended:

    i. Exemption should be given to the telecom sector from deduction or collection of all types of withholding taxes, like banking and oil sector. There will be no loss of revenue to the exchequer as the tax collection mechanism will be simplified in terms of real time payment of advance tax Under Section 147 on quarterly basis.

    Furthermore, this measure will also make the tax claims and its verification mechanism more transparent with minimum operational hassles as maintaining the thousands of records especially for advance tax on utility bills and imports is itself a very cumbersome procedure.

    ii. Amendments need to be made in the section 147 for the calculation of tax liability. Currently the calculation of tax liability is based on the last assessed position and turnover of the year. The assessed position should not be used as a basis of calculation of tax liability until and unless an independent forum (i.e. At least Tribunal) has also confirmed the assessed position.

    The OICCI recommended to reduce the custom duty rates for batteries (8507.6000) to 5 percent and to abolish additional custom duty and Regulatory duty, as these batteries are used with solar and power systems and are core asset for telecom infrastructure services provider. Reduction in duties will further encourage alternate energy resources for Telecom sector e.g. Solar etc.

    On the issue of custom duty and Regulatory duty on import of telecom equipment, it is recommended to restore SRO 575, reduce Custom duty to 5 percent and abolish the Additional Custom duty and Regulatory duty as the core assets needs to be imported for provisioning of telecom services.

    The OICCI demanded exemption from advance tax on electricity for Telecom Tower Infrastructure Companies. The chamber said that currently taxpayers can obtain exemption certificate for non-deduction of tax on electricity bills under section 235(3) of ITO 2001 if their income is exempt under the law or by discharging their advance tax liability for the year. Such exemption is not available to telecom service providers as their tax liability is minimum under section 153(3) of the ITO, 2001.

    Enabling provision may be inserted in section 235 of the ITO, 2001 to empower the Commissioner to issue exemption certificate to Service Providers under minimum tax regime for non-deduction of advance tax on electricity bills.

  • 367,159 taxpayers pay surcharge to enroll on ATL-2020

    367,159 taxpayers pay surcharge to enroll on ATL-2020

    ISLAMABAD: Around 367,159 taxpayers have paid surcharge for appearance in the Active Taxpayers List (ATL) for availing exempt or reduced rates of withholding tax on various transactions.

    According to weekly updated ATL for tax year 2020 issued on Monday the number of active taxpayers increased to 2,545,622 on the basis of income tax return filed within due date and after payment of surcharge after due date by April 11, 2021.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued the new ATL for tax year 2020 on March 01, 2021 which carried 2,178,463 names of taxpayers, who were entitled to avail reduced or exempt rates of withholding tax on various transactions.

    The filing of income tax returns is mandatory for all the taxpayers who have taxable income or specified under Section 114 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    As per statute the compliance of mandatory return filing was not enough to avail the reduced rate facility. According to Section 182A of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 the persons who fail to file annual return of income by due date or extended by commissioner Inland Revenue then their names would not be included in the active taxpayers list for the year for which return was not filed.

    However, the persons would be included in the taxpayers list on filing return after the due date, if they pay surcharge at: Rs20,000 in case of  a company; Rs10,000 in case of an association of persons; and Rs1,000 in case of an individual.