Pkrevenue.com

Day: July 28, 2021

  • Google announces vaccine requirement for its officials

    Google announces vaccine requirement for its officials

    Google is the first big tech company to announce a vaccine requirement for returning to its offices. The decision may push other tech companies to follow with similar moves.

    Google will now require employees who work in its offices to be fully vaccinated and is pushing back its start date for when they need to report back to the office in response to the highly contagious delta variant spreading across the United States and around the world.

    Google made the announcement in a note sent to employees from CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday.

    In it, Pichai says the company has seen high vaccination rates for Google employees so far and that is why it is comfortable in bringing workers back into the office.

    Currently, there are some early volunteers who are already working at various Google campuses.

    “For those of you with special circumstances, we will soon be sharing expanded temporary work options that will allow you to apply to work from home through the end of 2021,” said Pichai in the note.

    In the spring, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon started rolling out their return-to-office plans which largely involved a hybrid approach — three days of work in the office and two at home, starting for most employees in the fall.

    For the most part, wearing masks was not going to be a requirement for vaccinated in-office workers at most companies, and getting vaccines was not mandated. Now the companies’ plans appear to going through another round of revisions.

    Apple was the first company to change its fall 2021 return-to-office date, announcing in July that workers would not be required back until October instead of the previously announced date in September.

  • Get $100 for coronavirus vaccination

    Get $100 for coronavirus vaccination

    New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced to pay $100 for people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

    New Yorkers, who get their first vaccine dose, starting Friday at a city-run vaccination site will get a $100 incentive, the mayor announced Wednesday.

    News reports quoted De Blasio as saying the $100 will make a “big impact, particularly in a world in which more and more things are going to be determined by whether you’re vaccinated or not.”

    “We wanted to supercharge it by saying we’ll give you extra, direct personal incentive to get this done now.”

    Residents and city employees will receive a $100 prepaid debit card, said Rachel Loeb, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

    Residents can immediately redeem the card digitally, or receive a physical debit card.

    The incentive is the latest the mayor has announced to get the city vaccinated. De Blasio said Wednesday that 9,902,097 doses have been administered.

    Fifty-nine percent of the city’s population has received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the city, while 54 percent have been fully inoculated.

    •             AFL-CIO backing vaccine requirement for workers

    •             Biden expected to announce vaccine requirement for federal workers…

    On Monday, de Blasio said that all city employees would need to be fully vaccinated or undergo frequent coronavirus testing by September 13.

    The mayor said that while vaccine mandates are a “crucial part” of the solution, mandates work well with incentives. 

    “We’ve talked the last few days about mandates, and there’s no question in my mind that mandates are a crucial part of the solution, and we’ll keep working on those. But we also still believe in incentives. Incentives help immensely. Both go well together,” de Blasio quoted as saying.

  • FBR launches single identifier number for all taxes

    FBR launches single identifier number for all taxes

    ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced a single identifier number for all domestic taxes.

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  • Banks withhold tax on export of IT services

    Banks withhold tax on export of IT services

    KARACHI: Tax practitioners in Karachi have brought to light a concerning issue where banks are deducting withholding tax on proceeds from the exports of computer software and IT-enabled services, despite these being granted a 100% tax credit.

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  • Senior tax auditor awarded ‘dismissal from service’

    Senior tax auditor awarded ‘dismissal from service’

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has imposed major penalty of ‘dismissal from service’ upon a senior tax auditor for misconduct.

    Syed Ali Hussain, Senior Auditor (BS-16), Large Taxpayers Office, has been removed from service for absence from office without authorized leave.

    According to an office order issued on Wednesday, the FBR said disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Syed Ali Hussain, Senior Auditor (BS-16), Large Taxpayers Office, Lahore under Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline), Rules 1973 on charges of “Misconduct” in terms of Rule 3(b) ibid.

    The Chief Commissioner, Large Taxpayers Office, Lahore being Authorized officer appointed Dr. Muhammad Sarmad Qureshi, then Commissioner-IR, (Legal Zone) Large Taxpayers Office, Lahore as Inquiry Officer. Charge Sheet and Statement of Allegations were issued on 01.02.2021 on following charges:

    i. Syed Ali Hussain, Senior Auditor, Large Taxpayers Office, Lahore (the then Large Taxpayers Unit, Lahore) was allowed casual leave for 5 days from 05.11.2018 to 09.11.2018 and he was due in office on 12.11.20108 after the weekly holidays on Saturday and Sunday i.e. 10th and 11th November, 2018. As such he is absent from duty since 12.11.2018.

    ii. He willfully travelled outside Pakistan frequently without prior approval and sanction of ex-Pakistan leave from the Competent Authority during the period.

    iii. Passport No. JR5159161 was issued to him on 27th July, 2016 showing his profession as “Government Employee” but he applied on 18th October, 2018 for the modification of his passport, on the basis of production of fake resignation letter at the time of interview and willfully got a modified passport bearing No. JR5159162 showing his profession as “Other”.

    iv. He sent an application through Mr. Atif Noor on 25th April, 2019 requesting for leave for 4 weeks alongwith OPD slip dated 25th April, 2019 showing that he was examined by the Medical Officer of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore who recommended complete bed rest for 4 weeks whereas Syed Ali Hussain was out of Pakistan on 25th April, 2019.

    In spite of proper service of Charge Sheet and Statement of Allegations sent through UMS followed by final hearing notice sent through UMS and service by hand upon his brother namely Syed SajjadHaider s/o Syed Mehboob Ali CNIC 35202-2414918-1 at House No. 1-A, Qureshi Street No. 44, Sanda Kalan, Lahore on 09.03.2021 which was also affix at the same premises, the accused failed to respond.

    Keeping in view the constant non-compliance from accused, a Show Cause Notice dated 17.03.2021 and the corrigendum was published in the “Daily Pakistan”& “Business Recorder” dated 16.04.2021 and 25.04.2021 respectively. In absence of any defence the inquiry officer concluded that all charges levelled against the accused are established and submitted the inquiry report dated 08.06.2021 to the Authorized Officer.

    Chief Commissioner, Large Taxpayers Office, Lahore being Authorized Officer in this case, after considering all aspect of the case was of the view that the charges of “Misconduct” against the officer stand established. The Authorized Officer i.e. Chief Commissioner, LTO Lahore therefore recommended imposition of the Major Penalty of “Dismissal from Service” upon the accused in terms of Rule 5(1)(iv) read with 4(1)(b)(iv) of the Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973.

    The authority i.e. (Admn/HR) FBR has imposed the Major Penalty of “Dismissal from Service” upon the accused under Rule Rule 5(1)(iv) read with 4(1)(b)(iv) of the Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline), Rules 1973 with immediate effect. Period of absence from duty w.e.f. 12.11.2018 till dismissal shall be treated as extraordinary leave (EOL), without pay.

    Syed Ali Hussain, Senior Auditor (BS-16), shall have right of appeal to the appellate Authority under Civil Servants (Appeal) Rules, 1977 within a period of thirty (30) days from the date of communication of this notification / order.

  • Stocks tumble over COVID lockdown concerns

    Stocks tumble over COVID lockdown concerns

    KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) tumbled on Wednesday over growing concerns related to COVID lockdown.

    The market also fell on probe by regulator for unusual price movement in certain stocks.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 47,318 points as against 47,687 points, showing a decline of 369 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market tumbled in later part of the session today, which brought the index down by more than 400 points and closed the session -369 points.

    Concerns over latest COVID lockdown and probe by the regulator on account of unusual price movement in certain stocks brought the market under selling pressure and became the major reasons for sentiment weakness.

    Earlier part of the session saw institutional investors building positions in Cement and Steel sectors that caused the pertinent scrips to show healthy price uptick, however, later activity in the market brought the stock prices down.

    Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 40.4 million shares, followed by BYCO (26.8 million) and TELE (13.2 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (-90 points), Cement (-42 points), Refinery (-33 points), Banks (-31 points) and E&P (-30 points).

    Volumes increased from 432.6 million shares to 365.8 million shares (-16 per cent DoD). Average traded value also dipped by 12 per cent to reach US$ 76.0 million as against US$ 85.9 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, BYCO, TELE, UNITY and KEL, which formed 29 per cent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include KTML (+24 points), MEBL (+14 points), COLG (+14 points), PAKT (+4 points) and DAWH (+4 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-73 points), UNITY (-25 points), NRL (-17 points), HUBC (-16 points) and LUCK (-16 points).

  • Industries flay raise in minimum wage by Sindh

    Industries flay raise in minimum wage by Sindh

    In a significant development, the Sindh Government’s decision to unilaterally increase the minimum wage from Rs17,500 to Rs25,000 has stirred discontent and alarm within the industrial sector, particularly in Karachi.

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  • FPCCI organizes seminar for using Amazon platform

    FPCCI organizes seminar for using Amazon platform

    Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has organized a seminar for using Amazon platform.

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  • KIBOR rates on July 27, 2021

    KIBOR rates on July 27, 2021

    The Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR) held relatively steady across various tenors on July 28, 2024, reflecting cautious sentiment in the financial markets amid macroeconomic uncertainty and expectations surrounding future monetary policy decisions.

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  • Tax exemption allowed on import of 30 million face masks

    Tax exemption allowed on import of 30 million face masks

    In a proactive move to support the ongoing efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has granted a significant tax exemption on the import of 30 million face masks.

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