Pkrevenue.com

Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

  • IR offices to observe extended working hours on Feb 28 for revenue collection

    IR offices to observe extended working hours on Feb 28 for revenue collection

    KARACHI: The offices of Inland Revenue will observe extended working hours on Friday, February 28, 2020 to facilitate taxpayers in payment of due taxes and filing of tax returns.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in an office orders issued to Large Taxpayers Units (LTUs) Corporate Regional Tax Offices (CRTOs) and RTOs, directed to observe extended working hours till 10:00PM on Friday February 28, 2020 to facilitate the taxpayers in payment of duties and taxes and filing of Income Tax Returns / Statements.

    The chief commissioners have been directed to establish liaison with State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and authorized branches of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to ensure transfer of tax collection by these branches on February 28, 2020 to the respective branches of SBP on the same date so as to account for the same towards the collection for the month of February 2020.

    The SBP also issued instructions that NBP branches as well as field offices of the SBP Banking Services Corporation, shall observe extended banking hours up to 8:00PM on February 28, 2020.

    The NBP branches will settle their transactions on same day i.e. February 28, 2020 with respective SBP BSC offices for which purpose a special clearing will be arranged at 5:00PM by the NIFT on February 28, 2020.

    The NBP shall settle their transactions with SBP BSC field offices/head office latest by 10:00PM on February 28, 2020.

    The SBP further said that in order to eliminate the issue of spillover receipts, NBP shall ensure that no instrument containing receipts of the government, shall unattended at any NBP branch and shall be settled in the value date of February 28, 2020 through special clearing.

  • IMF board to decide $450 million disbursement to Pakistan in April

    IMF board to decide $450 million disbursement to Pakistan in April

    KARACHI: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will decide disbursement of $450 million in early April 2020, a statement said on Thursday.

    The IMF issued the press release stating:

    “Following discussions between International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and the Pakistani authorities in Islamabad from February 3-13, which continued from the IMF headquarters in recent days, IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on policies and reforms needed to complete the second review of the authorities reform program supported under the EFF.

    “The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF management and consideration by the Executive Board, which is expected in early April. Completion of the review will enable disbursement of SDR 328 million (around US$450 million).”

    Earlier on February 14, 2020, the IMF issued the following press release:

    “An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, visited Islamabad during February 3-13, to initiate discussions on the second review of the authorities’ economic reform program supported under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement.

    “At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Ramirez Rigo made the following statement:

    “The IMF staff team had constructive and productive discussions with the Pakistani authorities and commended them on the considerable progress made during the last few months in advancing reforms and continuing with sound economic policies. The mission and the authorities made significant progress in the discussions on policies and reforms. In the coming days progress will continue to pave the way for the IMF Executive Board’s consideration of the review.

    “The macroeconomic outlook remains broadly as expected at the time of the first review. Economic activity has stabilized and remains on the path of gradual recovery. The current account deficit has declined, helped by the real exchange rate that is now broadly in line with fundamentals, while international reserves continue to rebuild at a pace considerably faster than anticipated. Inflation should start to see a declining trend as the pass-through of exchange rate depreciation has been absorbed and supply-side constraints appear to be temporary. Fiscal performance in the first half of the fiscal year remained strong, with the general government registering a primary surplus of 0.7 percent of GDP on the back of strong domestic tax revenue growth. Development and social spending have been accelerated.”

  • Stock market makes recovery after massive intra-day fall

    Stock market makes recovery after massive intra-day fall

    KARACHI: The stock market ended by a decline of 251 points on Thursday after making recovery from significant fall earlier in the day.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 38,087 points as against 38,338 points showing a decline of 251 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market made a strong comeback after losing 1420 points earlier in the session.

    The recovery extended into MoC and closed the session -251 points. Concerns relating to Coronoa were on investors’ minds that caused the selling pressure, which was also aggravated by Moody’s report on banking sector, relaying negativity on the banking sector.

    Recovery however, also came in banking sector, followed by Cement which has recently been showing decent progress in terms of dispatches. Cement sector led the volumes with 39.4 million shares, followed by Vanaspati (29.1 million) and O&GMCs (28.8 million).

    Among scrips, UNITY topped with 29.1 million shares, followed by HASCOL (17.5 million) and MLCF (15.1 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-131 points), O&GMCs (-50 points), Food (-42 points), Autos (-25 points), Insurance (-25 points), Banks (+61 points) and Cement (-27 points).

    Volumes increased from 147.9 million shares to 248.9 million shares (+68 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 44 percent to reach US$ 64.7mn as against US$ 45.1 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, HASCOL, MLCF, BOP and TRG, which formed 35 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively include UBL (+62 points), HBL (+30 points), MCB (+21 points), LUCK (+16 points) and ENGRO (+16 points).

    Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-55 points), OGDC (-46 points), POL (-31 points), BAHL (-25 points), and NESTLE (-24 points).

  • Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves flat at $18.743 billion

    Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves flat at $18.743 billion

    KARACHI: Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves were flat at $18.743 billion by week ended February 21, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $18.747 billion by week ended on February 14, 2020.

    The official reserves of the central bank increased by $87 million to $12.592 billion by week ended February 21, 2020 as compared with $12.505 billion a week ago.

    However, reserves held by commercial banks fell by $91 million to $6.151 billion by week ended February 21, 2020 as compared with $6.242 billion a week ago.

  • Rupee gains four paisas on lower import payment demand

    Rupee gains four paisas on lower import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained four paisas against dollar on Thursday owing to lower demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs154.21 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs154.25 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that due to fears of coronavirus and stuck up import consignments at the ports discouraged importers to buy the foreign currency.

    Reportedly, huge number of consignments of China origin was stuck up at ports due to formalities attached to coronavirus threat.

    The exchange rate in open market witnessed appreciation in rupee value. The buying and selling of the dollar recorded at Rs154.00/Rs154.30 as compared with previous day’s closing of Rs154.10/Rs154.40 in cash ready market.

  • FBR allows sales tax return filing up to February 28

    FBR allows sales tax return filing up to February 28

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has allowed taxpayers to file their monthly sales tax and federal excise returns up to February 28, 2020.

    The FBR on Thursday issued a notification for extension in date of submission of sales tax and federal excise return for the tax period of January 2020.

    The notification said that the FBR further extended the date of submission of sales tax and federal excise return up to February 28, 2020 for the tax period of January 2020, which was due on February 18 and was extended up to February 26, 2020.

  • FBR invites sales tax proposals to eliminate flying invoices, tax fraud

    FBR invites sales tax proposals to eliminate flying invoices, tax fraud

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued an invitation to business chambers and associations to submit their sales tax and federal excise proposals for the upcoming budget 2020/2021. The primary aim is to eliminate flying invoices and tax fraud while broadening the tax base and increasing revenue.

    (more…)
  • Stocks falls by 1051 points on covid cases confirmation

    Stocks falls by 1051 points on covid cases confirmation

    KARACHI: The stock market fell by 1,051 points in early trading on Thursday after coronavirus cases confirmed by the government authorities.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is current trading (10:30AM) at 37,287 points losing around 1051 points.

    The coronavirus haunted the stock market since start of this week. Today the market fell sharply after two cases of coronavirus were confirmed by the health ministry last night.

  • OICCI recommends price deregulation of petrol, diesel

    OICCI recommends price deregulation of petrol, diesel

    KARACHI: Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has recommended front and back-end price deregulation of petrol and diesel for downstream oil refining and marketing sector.

    For the Upstream oil and gas exploration sector, the OICCI recommended besides the estimated 30 onshore blocks that may be available for bidding, offshore blocks should also be considered and about 5-10 blocks should be offered every 3-6 months, so that there is a steady flow of new acreage to accelerate indigenous E&P activities.

    Moreover, an Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) approach must be adopted and components of the Power Value Chain should be liberalized to bring operational efficiency and reduce energy costs.

    The overseas investors’ chamber made these recommendations in its Energy Report 2019 launched on Wednesday.

    The report is based on the recommendations of the 31 leading international energy sector companies operating in Pakistan, which are members of the chamber.

    Pakistan’s energy sector has witnessed significant transformation over the past five years, with the power generation capacity increasing rapidly to over 39000 MW by mid-2019, with the inclusion of two large RLNG based power plants, Thar coal project and imported coal-based power plants leading to a major shift in the energy mix. Despite the relative fast paced increase in the generation and transmission capacity, over 60 million Pakistanis do not have access to electricity from the grid, which not only impacts the economic growth of the country, but the economic exclusion has a social impact also.

    On top of this, the mounting circular debt, in excess of Rs 1.9 trillion, and the inability of distribution companies to arrest the ever increasing technical and non-technical losses, continue to burden the national exchequer by an additional Rs 40-50 billion annually.

    Presenting the report, CE/Secretary General, OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem commented that “OICCI Energy Report 2019 includes a number of recommendations to streamline the Oil and Gas and Power sectors.

    “The Ministry of Energy is playing a pivotal role in introducing structural reforms to address Pakistan’s prevalent energy issues. However, it is imperative that relevant stakeholders, such as the OICCI, are involved for these to be successful” commented M. Abdul Aleem adding that “OICCI is aware of the government’s plan to offer 18 onshore exploration blocks for bidding, approval for 5 LNG companies to set up regasification terminals at Port Qasim and initiative to develop an Integrated Energy Plan.”

    OICCI Energy Report 2019 is the collective effort of the 31 OICCI members belonging to the energy sector, who are associates of leading international players working in the areas of oil exploration, refining, marketing and distribution, coal mining and power generation segments.

    They cumulatively contribute over Rs 600 Billion annually to the national exchequer and employ a large number of skilled and professional staff.

    Nearly 200 OICCI members contribute about a third of the country’s total tax collections, invested nearly US$ 3.0 billion last year in new investments and employ about one million people with a significantly larger contribution to the socio economic development of the community.

  • FBR asks people to file income tax returns

    FBR asks people to file income tax returns

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday urged people having taxable income to file their income tax returns on or before February 28, 2020.

    The FBR said persons having annual income of Rs400,000 must submit their annual tax returns for tax year 2019.

    The tax body urged people to file annual income tax returns and play part to broaden tax net and become active taxpayer.

    It further said that salaried persons can also file their income tax returns through Tax Asaan application through mobile phones.

    Tax payment options have been provided through ATM, internet banking, credit card and direct debit from bank account.