Pkrevenue.com

Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

  • FBR notifies transfer, postings of 26 IRS officers in BS-17-20

    FBR notifies transfer, postings of 26 IRS officers in BS-17-20

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday notified transfers and postings of 26 officers of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) from BS-17 to BS-20 with immediate effect until further orders.

    The FBR notified transfers and postings of following officers:

    01. Mehmood Hussain Jafari (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) on return from NMC, has been transferred Commissioner Inland Revenue (Zone-II) Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    02. Dr. Muhammad Sarmad Qureshi (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (Corporate Zone) Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad from the post of Commissioner-IR, (Zone-IV) Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    03. Muhammad Anwar (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (Zone-I) Regional Tax Office, Sargodha from the post of Commissioner, (Corporate Zone) Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad.

    04. Ms. Fiza Batool (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (Zone-IV) Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore from the post of Commissioner-IR, (Zone-I) Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    05. Muhammad Taqi Qureshi (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (Zone-I) Regional Tax Office II, Lahore from the post of Commissioner-IR, (Zone-I) Regional Tax Office, Sargodha.

    06. Muhammad Majid (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Chief, (Taxpayers Audit) Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad from the post of Commissioner-IR, (Zone-II) Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    07. Tariq Bakhtiar (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (IP/TFD/HRM) Regional Tax Office, Peshawar from the post of Commissioner-IR, (Mardan Zone) Regional Tax Office, Peshawar.

    08. Irfan Aziz (Inland Revenue Service/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (Mardan Zone) Regional Tax Office, Peshawar from the post of Commissioner-IR, (IP/TFD/HRM) Regional Tax Office, Peshawar.

    09. Najeeb Qadir (Cost Accountant/BS-20) has been transferred and posted as Cost Accountant, Large Taxpayers Unit, Islamabad from the post of Chief , (TPA-II) Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad.

    10. Mirza Imtiaz Ahmed (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19) has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Inland Revenue (OPS) (IP/TFD/HRM) Large Taxpayers Unit, Islamabad from the post of Chief, (OPS) (TPA-I) Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad.

    11. Babar Nawaz Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19) has been transferred and posted as Additional Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad from the post of Additional Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    12. Ashfaq Ahmad (Inland Revenue Service/BS-19) has been transferred and posted as Additional Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Islamabad from the post of Additional Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    13. Khawar Siddique (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Lahore from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    14. Muhammad Naeem Ahmad (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Lahore from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    15. Umer Zeb Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    16. Asim Naseer (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Islamabad from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    17. Khan Shahzeb Bashir (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Lahore from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    18. Ali Noor (Inland Revenue Service/BS-18) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Lahore from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    19. Khalil Ahmed Qaiser (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office II, Lahore from the post of Assistant Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office, Bahawalpur.

    20. Ali Ahsan Warraich (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    21. Muhammad Adnan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Islamabad from the post of Deputy Commissioner-IR, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Lahore.

    22. Qasim Raza Chadhar (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Second Secretary, (IT Wing) Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad from the post of Assistant Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office, Sargodha.

    23. Wazir Ahmed Khushik (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue Large Taxpayers Unit, Karachi from the post of Assistant Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Karachi.

    24. Muhammad Siddique (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad from the post of Assistant Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    25. Muhammad Nadeem Asad (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad from the post of Assistant Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    26. Syed Abaid ur Rehman (Inland Revenue Service/BS-17) has been transferred and posted as Assistant Commissioner Inland Revenue Regional Tax Office, Sargodha from the post of Assistant Commissioner-IR, Regional Tax Office II, Lahore.

    The FBR said that the officers who are drawing performance allowance prior to issuance of this notification shall continue to draw this allowance on the new place of posting.

  • FBR urged to resolve input adjustment on payment made through BOAD

    FBR urged to resolve input adjustment on payment made through BOAD

    KARACHI: Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) on Thursday urged Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to resolve the input adjustment issue on payment made through Bill of Additional Duty (BOAD).

    The KTBA in a letter informed the FBR that it had highlighted the matter through communications dated November 27, 2013 and June 23, 2014, respectively whereby the issue of non-adjustment of input tax, paid through challan of BOAD was highlighted that a registered person remained unable to claim its input sales tax against the output sales tax.

    The KTBA informed through the instant letter that the these paid challans of BOAD were still not available in the uploadable format in the system due to which the issue was still persist.

    The tax bar pointed out that the issue had been duly addressed at the WeBOC system already and the PRAL through its communication on December 05, 2013 intimated that the provision for the requested adjustment had been made available for payment made through WeBOC system in the online sales tax return portal.

    A similar mechanism should be devised and put in place for the adjustment of sales tax paid through BOAD for challans paid through One Customs as well, which has been held pending for a considerable time period for the last five years.

    The issue needs to be addressed and resolved, the KTBA said.

  • Sindh Excise impounds 250 vehicles in campaign against tax defaulters

    Sindh Excise impounds 250 vehicles in campaign against tax defaulters

    KARACHI: Sindh Excise and Taxation Department has impounded 250 vehicles in its ongoing campaign against tax defaulting motor vehicles, a statement said on Thursday.

    Documents of around 450 vehicles have also been confiscated for various reasons. The department also recovered Rs4.4 million as provincial tax in this exercise, which will continue till January 02, 2020.

    As many as 7043 vehicles have been checked during the first two days of Road Checking Campaign of the excise department, Sindh, against tax defaulting vehicles under the direction of the provincial minister for Excise and Taxation & Narcotics Control and Parliamentary Affairs Mukesh Kumar Chawla.

    During the campaign so far 250 vehicles were seized for various reasons the documents of 450 vehicles were also confiscated and in total tax and penalty amounted to over Rs 4.4 million was collected.

    According to the details, 1999 vehicles were checked in Karachi, 1884 vehicles in Hyderabad, 1115 in Sukkur, 987 in Larkana, 680 in Mirpur Khas and 378 vehicles in Shaheed Benazirabad.

    For various reasons, papers of 180 vehicles in Karachi, 105 in Hyderabad, 31 in Sukkur, 66 in Larkana, 28 in Mirpur Khas and 40 in Shaheed Benazir Abad were confiscated while Rs 7825 in Karachi, Rs 1308638 in Hyderabad, Rs 616937 in Sukkur, Rs 1125696 in Larkana, Rs 500647 in Mirpur Khas and Rs 850737 in Shaheed Benazirabad were collected in the form of taxes and fines.

    Meanwhile the Minister for Excise and Taxation & Narcotics Control and Parliamentary Affairs, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, in a statement issued here on Thursday, has said that the road checking campaign for tax collection from the owners of tax defaulting vehicles will continue till January 2 and the owners of tax defaulting vehicles should deposit their taxes in a timely manner to avoid any unpleasant situation on the roads.

    “Timely payment of taxes is our national duty, and in doing so, we prove ourselves as a law abiding citizen,” he concluded.

  • FBR pays Rs11 billion refunds through FASTER system

    FBR pays Rs11 billion refunds through FASTER system

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has paid sales tax refunds worth Rs11 billion through its newly introduced online system since July 01, 2019.

    In a statement issued on Thursday, the FBR said that it had issued refunds through Fully Automated Sales Tax e-Refund (FASTER) system without human intervention worth Rs11 billion against claims of Rs15 billion.

    While clarifying a news report, the FBR said that the issue of liquidity problems due to imposition of Sales Tax on previously zero rated sectors was raised in the standing committee.

    The FBR acknowledged the issue and explained that in first 6 months, a total of Rs98 billion refunds have been issued as opposed to Rs31 billion in last year.

    Most of these refunds have been given to exporters including encashment of refund bonds issued last year.

    It was also emphasized that if the government on one hand has brought the export oriented sector under VAT regime, it has heavily facilitated the sectors by providing sizable subsidy on gas and electricity despite a very narrow fiscal space available to it.

    So the perception conveyed by the news item is a bit misleading and the Federal Government and FBR are trying to provide maximum facilitation to businesses in a collaborative and consultative process.

  • Export commitments to be missed on gas supply curtailment: APTMA

    Export commitments to be missed on gas supply curtailment: APTMA

    KARACHI: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) in a statement on Thursday said that industries will fail to meet export commitments due to 50 percent reduction in gas supply.

    Zahid Mazhar, Chairman, APTMA, Sindh-Baluchistan Region demanded the government to restore full supply of gas to the industries located in the province of Sindh and Balochistan as the industries in these province can’t operate and fulfill their export commitments at 50 percent load supply.

    Mazhar said that the province of Sindh and Balochistan are producing about 84 percent of the system gas and consuming only 39 percent of the gas produced in the country, even then the industries of Sindh province are denied of their Constitutional Right guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan.

    He said that the gas being produced in Sindh should first be supplied to the province and only after fulfilling the requirement of Sindh and Balochistan, surplus gas should be passed on to the other provinces in line with Article 158 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

    Mazhar further said that the textile industry units located in the province of Sindh are mostly export oriented units and these units attract priority in the allocation of energy including gas supply.

    As this is the peak season and any disturbance or short supply of gas would affect the timely shipments of export commitments resulting in not only decline in export earnings and loss of foreign buyers of textile products of Pakistan but would also result in decline in production and revenue of the government.

    He said that the curtailment in gas supply by 50 percent in addition to low gas pressure has completely disturbed the production-lines, resulting in decline exports and causing damages to industry’s costly plants and equipments.

    He further said that curtailment in gas supply is against the assurance given by the present government of Imran Khan of continuous and uninterrupted supply of energy both gas and electricity specially to the export oriented industry like textiles which is earning more than sixty percent of the much needed foreign exchange through exports.

    It is also against the government policy of industrialization and export led growth, he added.

    He said that the curtailment in gas supply by 50 percent to the Sindh and Balochistan based industry that makes about 52 percent of the country’s total exports is resulting in loss of foreign exchange and revenue.

    He said production of export oriented industries has shrunk since the export sector has been compelled to work for 50 percent of its capacity.

    In other countries governments give priority to their export oriented industry in supply of gas and energy, whereas domestic and commercial sectors are provided with LPG or LNG. On the contrary in Pakistan, our precious natural gas is being supplied to domestic and commercial sectors at the cost of industries.

    Mazhar urged the Federal and Provincial Governments and the gas utility to look into this issue on urgent basis and to ensure continuous and uninterrupted gas supply otherwise the industries would be compelled to close their operations which will create not only irreparable losses to the economy of Pakistan but would also create law & order situation due to unemployment of large number of workers employed in these industries.

  • Pakistan’s weekly foreign exchange reserves slip by $60 million

    Pakistan’s weekly foreign exchange reserves slip by $60 million

    KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country slipped by $60 million to $17.595 billion by week ended December 20, 2019, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $17.655 billion by week ended December 13, 2019.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased by $15 million to $10.907 billion by week ended December 20, 2019 as compared with $10.892 billion a week ago.

    The SBP said that on December 23, 2019, it received $452.4 million from International Monetary Fund (IMF) as second tranche under EFF program.

    These funds will be part of SBP weekly reserves data as of December 27, 2019, to be released on January 02, 2020.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks fell by $75 million to $6.688 billion as against $6.763 billion a week ago.

  • Equity market gains 800 points on buying activities

    Equity market gains 800 points on buying activities

    KARACHI: The equity market registered an increase of 800 points on Thursday due to year end closing that requires financial institutions to manage the equity portfolios to avoid impairments.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 41,128 points as against 40,328 points showing an increase of 800 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market moved up significantly by 820 points, primarily due to year end closing that requires financial institutions to manage the equity portfolios to avoid impairments.

    Buying activity was observed across the board, but focusing on Oil & Gas chain, including E&P sector stocks that showed OGDC trading near upper circuit.

    Similarly, price gains were observed in Refinery and OMCs sectors.

    Banking sector was no different with major performance from HBL and UBL.

    Technology sector led the volumes with 33.6 million shares followed by O&GMCs (27.7 million) and Vanaspati (27.2 million).

    Amogn scrips, UNITY saw trading volumes of 27.2 million, followed by WTL (21 million) and HASCOLR (17.8M).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+360 points), E&P (+140 points), O&GMCs (+54 points), Power (+44 points) and Inv Banks (+35 points).

    Volumes showed slight increase from 236.2 million shares to 236.8 million shares (+0.3 percent DoD).

    Average traded value also declined by 10 percent to reach US$ 51.3 million as against US$ 56.5 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, WTL, HASCOLR1, FFL and TRG, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+119 points), OGDC (+70 points), UBL (+56 points), BAHL (+51 points) and PPL (+44 points).

    Stocks that contributed negatively include PAKT (-36 points), EFUG (-10 points), MUREB (-3 points), SCBPL (-2 points), and INDU (-2 points).

  • Rupee falls by 17 paisas on import, corporate demand

    Rupee falls by 17 paisas on import, corporate demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee depreciated by 17 paisas against dollar on Thursday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments, dealers said.

    The rupee ended Rs155.07 to the dollar from December 24, 2019 closing of Rs154.90 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    The dealers said that the rupee was remained under pressure during the day due to higher demand for the greenback. They said that due to holiday on account of Qaid-e-Azam Day and Christmas the market witnessed higher demand for dollar on Thursday.

    The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs154.85 and Rs154.90. The market recorded day high of Rs155.08 and low of Rs154.87 and closed at Rs155.07.

    The exchange rate in open market also witnessed depreciation in rupee value. The buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs154.70/Rs155.10 from December 24, 2019 closing of Rs154.60/Rs154.90 in cash ready market.

  • SBP extends date for implementing machine authenticated Rs50 banknotes

    SBP extends date for implementing machine authenticated Rs50 banknotes

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has extended the date for banks regarding issuance of machine authenticated Rs50 banknotes.

    In a notification issued on Thursday, the central bank said that considering the difficulties faced by banks in machine processing of lower denomination banknotes under the Currency Management Strategy (CMS), it had been decided to extend the effective date for issuance of machine authenticate Rs50 banknotes until January 4, 2021.

    The banks are however encouraged to gradually adopt machine processing and authentication of Rs50 banknotes.

    Earlier, the banks were required to process lower denomination banknotes under the CMS from January 02, 2020.

    The SBP on August 31, 2017 issued Currency Management System, which is as follow:

    Considering the various aspects of implementation and feedback of the stakeholders, the following changes have been made in the strategy:

    I. Sealed Cassettes based feeding of ATMs:

    The instructions contained at section C (iii) of FD Circular No.03/2015 dated August 26, 2015 regarding use of standardized purpose built cassettes for feeding of ATMs shall stand amended as under:

    a) The requirement of cassette based feeding of ATMs has been made optional for the time being. The banks are however encouraged to plan for gradual movement towards cassette based feeding to comply with our instructions. SBP will continue to monitor the situation on periodic basis for a policy decision.

    b) The banks may alternatively use sealed bags or trays for feeding of ATMs. However the banks shall ensure that sealing and unsealing of bags/trays and replenishment of ATMs is carried out under proper CCTV controlled environment.

    c) The on-site ATMs can be fed by their respective branches provided that the end to end process from cash processing to ATM feeding is covered by CCTV cameras.

    d) Other requirements as advised under section C of FD Circular No.03/2015 dated August 26, 2015 shall remain applicable.

    II. Application of Strategy on lower banknote denominations:

    The instructions contained at section-I of FD Circular No.01/2016 dated January 25, 2016 regarding implementation of phase-II of strategy for all denomination of banknotes w.e.f. 2nd January 2018 shall stand amended as under:

    a) The banks will start disbursing machine authenticated banknotes of Rs 100 w.e.f. 2nd January 2018 and Rs 50 w.e.f. 2nd January 2019 respectively.

    b) The lower banknote denominations of Rs 20 and Rs 10 have been excluded from Currency Management Strategy.

    III. Banknote Packing Instructions (BPI)

    The Banknote Packing Instructions issued vide FD Circular No.02/2017 dated March 10, 2017 shall stand amended as under:

    a) The effective date of instructions contained at section 1.2 and 1.3 of BPI has been extended from 3rd July 2017 to 1st December 2017.

    The banks may deposit the cash processed and packed by other bank(s) with SBP BSC or offer the same in IEC. The earlier requirement that the cash processed and packed by the depositing bank can only be deposited with SBP BSC or offered for exchange in IEC shall stand withdrawn. However, in case of any discrepancy, the bank which has processed and packed the cash shall be responsible.

  • Taxpayers’ bill of rights must be introduced to ensure equality of treatment

    Taxpayers’ bill of rights must be introduced to ensure equality of treatment

    Taxpayers in Pakistan face significant challenges, including highhandedness, inefficiency, and corruption by tax officials. To address these issues and rebuild trust between taxpayers and the government, it is imperative to introduce a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. This initiative would protect citizens from exploitation and harassment while fostering a sense of confidence in the state’s tax collection mechanisms.

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