The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has opted to postpone the implementation of valuation tables for immovable properties following concerns raised by various stakeholders.
(more…)Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz
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FBR hikes sales tax rates on petroleum products
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a notification, SRO 1579(I)/2021, announcing revisions in the sales tax rates on various petroleum products, excluding petrol.
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Pakistan, Saudi Arabia sign agreement for employment
ISLAMABAD: A deal has been signed on Sunday by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for certification and employment of Pakistani skilled workforce through Takamol and NAVTTC.
The agreement was signed by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mahmood from the Pakistan side, and Dr. Ahmad Jabbar Al Yamni, from Saudia Arabia Takamol side.
The Agreement signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Saudi Arabia and it was witnessed by senior officials of both countries.
READ MORE: Saudi Arabia allows direct entry from Pakistan
This important cooperation between both countries has a far-reaching impact for enhancing the employment opportunities for the skilled Pakistani workforce by joint certification and testing by Takamol Saudi Arabi and NAVTTC National Vocational and Technical Training Commission Pakistan.
This will also safeguard the existing Pakistani workforce in Saudi Arabia. In order to facilitate the Pakistani expatriate workforce, NAVTTC under the leadership of Shafqat Mahmood, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Chairman NAVTTC Syed Javed Hassan and Executive Director NAVTTC Sajid Baloch worked hard to achieve this hallmark far-reaching Agreement between NAVTTC and Takamol.
It is expected that millions of Pakistani skilled workers will get gainful employment opportunities with higher earning as a result of the efforts of the Government of Pakistan.
READ MORE: Saudi Arabia places $3bn with Pakistan’s central bank
Under this partnership, NAVTTC, National Vocational and Technical Training Commission Pakistan and Takamol, a subsidiary of the Government of Saudi Arabia are establishing the testing regime under the Skills Verification Program, by exchanging the NOS (National Occupational Standards) and facilitating skill verification of candidates through competency-based assessment (Theory & Practical) at exam Centers in Pakistan for candidates desirous of working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This will enable the Pakistani skill workforce to have authentic and internationally recognized joint certification by both Takamol Saudi Arabia and NAVTTC Pakistan, through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) assessment.
READ MORE: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia agree to strengthen economic ties
The Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has introduced Skill Verification Program (SVP) implemented from July 2021 in order to regulate its labor market. After the implementation of SVP in KSA, skill verification has become necessary for the Pakistani skilled workers, who intend to have employment in Saudi Arabia.
It is important to note that the largest number of Pakistani expatriate workforce is based in Saudi Arabia, who contribute substantially to Pakistan’s economy through foreign remittances.
Most of the present Pakistani workforce in KSA fall in the category of un-skilled or semi-skilled labor, which means reduced remunerations and it also impacts remittances negatively.
Moreover, in the changing scenario of labour laws and dynamics of the labor market overseas, a large number of Pakistani skill workforce require skills certification as presently they face non-recognition of their qualifications, skills and certification.
This cooperation will help a large number of these workers, also leading to national productivity and development.
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Penalties under Section 33 (15-21) of Sales Tax Act
Various penalties have been prescribed under Section 33 (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21) of Sales Tax Act, 1990, issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued the Sales Tax Act, 1990 updated up to June 30, 2021. The Act incorporated amendments brought through Finance Act, 2021.
Following is the text of section 33(15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990:
33. Offences and penalties.– Whoever commits any offence shall, in addition to and not in derogation of any punishment to which he may be liable under any other law, be liable to the penalty mentioned against that offence: –
15. Any person who obstructs the authorized officer in the performance of his official duties. (Section 31 & General)
Such person shall pay a penalty of twenty-five thousand rupees or one hundred per cent of the amount of tax involved, whichever is higher.
16. Any person who fails to make payment in the manner prescribed under section 73 of this Act. (Section 73)
Such person shall pay a penalty of five thousand rupees or three per cent of the amount of tax involved, whichever is higher.
17. Any person who fails to fulfil any of the conditions, limitations or restrictions prescribed in a Notification issued under any of the provisions of this Act. (Section 71 & General)
Such person shall pay a penalty of five thousand rupees or three per cent of the amount of tax involved, whichever is higher.
18. Where any officer of Inland Revenue authorized to act under this Act, acts or omits or attempts to act or omit in a manner causing loss to the sales tax revenue or otherwise abets or connives in any such act.
Such officer of Inland Revenue shall be liable, upon conviction by a Special Judge, to imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend to amount equal to the amount of tax involved, or with both.
19. Any person who contravenes any of the provision of this Act or the rules made thereunder for which no penalty has, specifically, been provided in this section.
Such person shall pay a penalty of five thousand rupees or three per cent of the amount of tax involved, whichever is higher.
21. Where any person repeats an offence for which a penalty is provided under this Act Such person shall pay twice the amount of penalty provided under the Act for the said offence.
(Disclaimer: The text of the above section is only for information. Team PkRevenue.com makes all efforts to provide the correct version of the text. However, the team PkRevenue.com is not responsible for any error or omission.)
READ MORE: Penalty for violating embargo placed on goods removal
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Customs I&I Multan auctions POL products on Dec 7
ISLAMABAD: The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation, Multan has announced the auction of a huge quantity of confiscated POL (petroleum) products on December 07, 2021.
The directorate invited sealed quotations/bids along with 25 per cent earnest money in the form of pay order or bank demand in favor of collector of customs from the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to purchase the same on as is where is basis.
The directorate will auction about 188,509 liters of high-speed diesel and 70,000 liters of crude oil and hydrocarbon oil.
As per law 10 per cent withholding tax shall be paid by the successful bidder/offer of the accepted bid amount of the auctioned subject POL products.
Interested/eligible bidders or offerers (OMCs) may participate in auction by way of submission of sealed tender/offer, in the name of the director of customs.
The directorate said that the sealed tenders must be submitted up to 1:00PM on December 7, 2021. The tender shall be opened at 2:00PM on the same day in the presence of all participants.
The highest tender/offer shall be considered for processing of the case and submitted to the competent authority.
In case of acceptance of the offer, rest of the amount shall be paid by the successful bidder within a period of seven days. In case of rejection of the bid earnest money shall be refunded to the bidder.
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FBR identifies 482 retailers for POS integration
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has identified 482 retailers for mandatory integration of Point of Sale (POS) with the tax online system for sharing sales in real-time.
The FBR issued the list of 482 retailers by notifying Sales Tax General Order (STGO) No. 6 of 2022 dated December 03, 2021.
The FBR said that the Finance Act, 2019 added sub-section (6) to section 811 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 whereby a Tier-1 Retailer who did not integrate its retail outlet in the manner prescribed under sub-section (9A) of section 3 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 during a tax period, its adjustable tax for that period would be reduced by 15 per cent. The figure of 15 per cent has been raised to 60 per cent vide Finance Act, 2021.
READ MORE: POS installation offers reduced tax rates: LTO Karachi
In order to operationalize this important provision of law, a system-based approach has been adopted whereby all Tier-1 retailers who are liable to integrate but have not yet integrated, with effect from July-2021 (Sales Tax Returns filed in August 2021) are to be dealt with as per the procedure laid down in STGO No. 1 of 2022 issued on August 03, 2021.
Vide the instant STGO No. 6, a list of 482 identified tier-1 retailers has been placed on FBR’s web portal at www.fbr.gov.pk allowing them to integrate with FBR’s system by December 10, 2021, and the procedure of exclusion from this list of 482 identified retailers shall apply as laid down in Para 2 of STGO 1 of 2022 dated 03.8.2021.
Upon the filing of Sales Tax Return for the month of November 2021 for all hereby notified retailers not having yet integrated, their input tax claim would be disallowed as above, without any further notice or proceedings, creating tax demand by the same amount.
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Envoy for removal of Saudi-Pak trade barriers
ISLAMABAD: Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan, has stressed the need to remove barriers in trade between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
While welcoming a delegation from Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) led by its president Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo at Saudi Embassy Islamabad, Al-Malki underscored the need of the removal of trade barriers and the promotion of trade through the direct route.
He stated that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia both possess huge natural resources which can be utilized for enhancement of bilateral trade relations.
The envoy also informed that there is huge potential in rice, textile, sea food, sports goods, agro-based products and there is a need of direct interaction between the traders of both countries in these commodities.
He said that Saudi Arabia wanted to see Pakistan as a growing economy as it is a very important country for the whole Muslim Ummah.
The ambassador said that Pakistan has lots of potential for speedy economic growth that should be highlighted more effectively to attract foreign investors.
Al-Malki urged that the media should focus on projecting the positive things of Pakistan to change wrong perception about it.
He said that wrong perceptions about Pakistan in foreign world needed to be changed to unlock its real economic potential.
President FPCCI Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that Pakistan desired to further strengthen its trade ties with Saudi Arabia as both countries have great scope to promote trade in many areas.
Read More: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia agree to strengthen bilateral economic ties
Pakistan has strong strategic, diplomatic and economic relations with Saudi Arabia and cannot forget the financial assistance of Saudi Arabia in the form of oil on credit, construction of educational institutions and on Kashmir cause.
Maggo while quoting the statistics, he informed that the share of Pakistan in Saudi Arabia’s trade is just one per cent; while in Pakistan’s trade is approximately 7 per cent stated that Saudi Arabia is an important trading partner of Pakistan and the joint business council between the national chambers of both countries can play a vital role in enhancing the trade and business activities.
He urged on accelerated efforts for activation of trade and economic promotional activities through this platform. Maggo also underlined the need of exchange of trade delegations, holding of B2B meetings, trade exhibitions and business forums etc.
Read more: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia agree to enhance duty, tax cooperation
The President FPCCI further highlighted various potential areas for investment in special economic zones of Pakistan under CPEC project. He invited the investors of Saudi Arabia to explore Joint venturesin these special zones. Pakistan will facilitate Saudi investors by providing them one window operation.
Qurban Ali, Chairman Capital Office & Mirza Abdul Rehman Chief Coordinator FPCCI also emphasized on the enhancement of bilateral trades and investment and suggested opening of Saudi Arabia EXIM bank branch in Pakistan for trade facilitation. Mirza Abdul Rehman &Qurban Ali highlighted the potentials of bilateral trade in different sectors and also requested multiple entry visa to the genuine businessmen on the recommendation of FPCCI within shortest possible time.
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Dollar breaches Rs177 to make new intraday record high
KARACHI: The US dollar has breached the level of Rs177 to make a new record high during intraday trading on Friday. So far the rupee lost 88 paisas against the dollar as the foreign currency is being traded at Rs177.30 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The rupee closed at Rs176.42 to the dollar a day earlier in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The Pak Rupee is under severe pressure due to a surge in import bills and a widening of trade deficit.
Official data revealed that Pakistan’s trade deficit ballooned by 112 per cent to $20.59 billion during the first five months (July – October) of the current fiscal year 2021/2022.
The trade deficit was at $9.72 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year, revealed by the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Pakistan’s import bill surged by 69.17 per cent to $32.934 billion during July – November 2021/2022 as compared with $19.468 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The exports of the country also exhibited by 26.68 per cent to $12.344 billion during the period under review as compared with $9.744 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The falling official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are also another reason for the rupee deterioration. According to the data released by the SBP, its official reserves were declined by $244 million to $16.01 billion by the week ended November 26, 2021, as compared with $16.254 billion a week ago.
Pakistan’s import cover has been reduced to two months with a reduction in official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to $16.01 billion.
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Pakistan’s trade deficit widens by 112% to $20.59 billion
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit ballooned by 112 per cent to $20.59 billion during the first five months (July – November) of the current fiscal year 2021/2022, according to official data released on Thursday.
The trade deficit was at $9.72 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year, revealed by the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Pakistan’s import bill surged by 69.17 per cent to $32.934 billion during July – November 2021/2022 as compared with $19.468 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The exports of the country also exhibited by 26.68 per cent to $12.344 billion during the period under review as compared with $9.744 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The country reported $4.963 billion as trade deficit for the month of November 2021. The trade deficit has swelled by 134 per cent in November 2021 as compared with the deficit of $2.121 billion in the same month of the last year.
The import bill registered a phenomenal growth of 82.83 per cent to $7.847 billion in November 2021 as compared with $4.292 billion in the same month of the last year.
The exports also grew by 33 per cent to $2.884 billion in November 2021 as compared with $2.171 billion in the same month of the last year.
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PM Adviser directs to reduce luxury items import
ISLAMABAD: Shaukat Tarin, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, has directed the authorities to take measures to reduce the import of luxury items.
He was presiding over a meeting to review the balance of trade at Finance Division on Thursday.
Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce & Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Federal Secretaries, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other senior officers participated in the meeting.
The meeting reviewed and discussed the import bill for the last five months- July to Nov 2021.
It was informed that the pressure on import bill was mainly due to global high commodity prices especially energy, steel, and industrial raw materials.
The forum also noted that high import of vaccine contributed significantly to the rise in import bill.
Moreover, it was informed that there will be less import of food items, furnace oil and vaccine in the coming months that will significantly reduce the pressure on trade bill in the second half of the current fiscal year.
At the conclusion, the Adviser to the PM on Finance and Revenue advised the concerned authorities to take effective policy measures to reduce unnecessary imports of luxury items.