Pkrevenue.com

Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

  • FBR imposes major penalty on four customs officials

    FBR imposes major penalty on four customs officials

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has imposed major penalty on four customs officials for misconduct and inefficiency.

    The FBR on Monday issued four different office orders to imposed major penalty including demotion to lower grade and compulsory retirement.

    The FBR imposed the major penalty of “Reduction to the lower post of UDC” upon Qamar Jamal, Appraising Officer (BS-16), Model Customs Collectorate of Port Muhammad Bin Qasim. The FBR found the official guilty of misconduct and inefficiency.

    The FBR imposed the major penalty of “Reduction to the lower post of Appraising Officer” upon Amir Ahmad Samoo, Principal Appraiser (BS-16), Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement-West, Karachi. The FBR found the official guilty of misconduct and inefficiency.

    The FBR imposed the major penalty of “Compulsory Retirement” upon Rao Muhammad Aslam, Appraising Officer/ (Examiner) (BS-16), Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement-East, Karachi. The FBR found the official guilty of misconduct and inefficiency.

    The FBR imposed the major penalty of “Reduction to a lower post of UDC” upon Nasir Iqbal, Inspector (BS-16) (Posted as Examining Officer) in Model Customs Collectorate (Appraisement-West), Karachi. The FBR found the official guilty of misconduct and inefficiency.

  • Bank holidays announced for Eid-ul-Azha

    Bank holidays announced for Eid-ul-Azha

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday announced bank holidays from August 12 to 15, 2019 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.

    In a notification sent to presidents / chief executives of all banks / Development Financial Institutions / Microfinance Banks, the central bank said that SBP will remain closed from 12th to 15th August, 2019 (Monday to Thursday) being public holidays on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.

    The SBP said that August 17, 2019 (Saturday) will be observed as working day from 9:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M.

  • Disbursement of agriculture loans grows by 21 percent: SBP

    Disbursement of agriculture loans grows by 21 percent: SBP

    KARACHI: The disbursement of agriculture loan has registered 21 percent growth to Rs1,174 billion in 2018/2019 as compared with Rs972.6 billion in the preceding fiscal year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.

    However, banks have missed the disbursement target of Rs1,250 billion set by Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee for 2018-2019, the central bank said.

    However, the achievement of agriculture credit disbursement is a sizable performance in agriculture lending despite number of demand and supply side challenges.

    The SBP said that the agriculture outstanding portfolio increased to Rs 562.4 billion on end June, 2019 registering a growth of 20 percent compared with the last year’s position of Rs 469.4 billion.

    Similarly, the agricultural credit outreach has increased to 4.01 million farmers or 91 percent against target of 4.42 million farmers at end June 2019, recording growth of 8 percent from 3.72 million farmers at end June 2018.

    To achieve these numbers, SBP adopted a multifaceted strategy and made concerted efforts for pursuing a massive agricultural credit target which included; sensitizing banks to adopt agriculture financing as a viable business line, exploring new avenues of financing, value chain financing, mobilizing e-credit, warehousing receipt financing, implementation of crop/livestock insurance and credit guarantee schemes for the farmers etc.

    The achievement could be made due to the integrated efforts of federal/provincial governments, SBP, financial institutions and other stakeholders.

    Further, the efforts included rigorous follow up with the top management of banks and agriculture credit heads and conducting regular follow-up meetings with regional management were instrumental for target monitoring. Conducting regular farmers’ awareness & financial literacy programs across the country, initiation of one window operation in KPK and holding job fairs for agriculture graduates in underserved provinces were also helpful.

    Moreover, the support of SBP BSC field offices in monitoring the district/regional targets was also supportive.

    The detailed credit performance reveals that during FY 2018-19, five major commercial banks collectively disbursed agriculture loans of Rs 653.5 billion or 100.4 percent of their annual target of Rs 651 billion, specialized banks disbursed Rs 81.2 billion or 71.8 percent of their annual target of Rs 113 billion and fifteen domestic private banks as a group achieved 86.5 percent by disbursing Rs 211.9 billion against their target of Rs 245 during FY-2018-19.

    Moreover, Microfinance Banks (MFBs) as a group have achieved 98.7 percent by disbursing agri. loans of Rs. 154.0 billion to small farmers which is 23 percent higher than the disbursement of Rs 124.8 billion during same period last year.

    Similarly, the Microfinance Institutions/Rural Support Programs collectively achieved 97.1 percent of their targets by disbursing Rs 34.0 billion to small and marginalized farmers during FY 2018-19.

    Five Islamic Banks as a group achieved 78.8 percent of their annual target of Rs 50.0 billion by disbursing Rs 39.4 billion which is Rs 23 billion higher than the disbursement made during the corresponding period last year.

    Further, in order to mobilize the Islamic Windows of commercial banks for agricultural financing, the disbursement targets of Rs 50.0 billion were assigned for 2018-2019.

    Accordingly, the windows of commercial banks as a group disbursed Rs 32.7 billion or 65.4 percent of the annual targets to faith sensitive clients during FY 2018-2019.

  • KCCI seeks 90-day extension for clearance relaxation in printing retail price

    KCCI seeks 90-day extension for clearance relaxation in printing retail price

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has urged Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the relaxation for further 90 days that was given for clearance of imported items without printing of retail price.

    Junaid Esmail Makda, President, KCCI has requested the FBR to extend the relaxation given for clearance of imported items under Third Schedule without printing of retail price or affixing stickers for 90 more days as the import orders were booked in advance for around 3 to 6 months while the packaging of the ordered products was already designed and printed at the initial stage.

    In a letter sent to Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi, President KCCI stated that on KCCI’s request FBR gave an extension of just 15 days for the implementation of the said condition but it was too short for importers to fulfill the new requirements and the process still remains incomplete, hence, the relevant notification should be extended for 90 days.

    He was of the opinion that it was not possible to re-print MRP on the old stock while any request of making changes at the eleventh hour are unacceptable to the sellers and spoils the credibility / goodwill of the trader.

    “The MRP cannot be assessed by the importer as they sell their imported goods to dealers who sell to distributors and they subsequently sell to retailers across the country while the end retail price including all the margins was determined afterwards which varies in different cases and cannot be standardized across Pakistan”, he added.

    He said that KCCI has received repeated requests from the importers that they were facing severe problems in meeting the requirements of printing Minimum Retail Price (MRP) on items added under the Third Schedule. In the Finance Act 2019-20, Sales Tax has been imposed at the import stage based on the printed MRP and many new items have been added to the Third Schedule of Sales Tax Act 1990.

    He said that on KCCI’s request, FBR allowed clearance of imported Third Schedule items without printing of retail price or affixing stickers for which goods declaration are filed by 31st July, 2019 subject to the condition that the importer declares retail price for each of the imported items for the assessment of sales tax vide Sales Tax General Order No. 102 / 2019 dated July 15, 2019 to clear the backlog at the ports.

    He reiterated that it is impractical to pre-assess and then print the MRP at import stage on each and every item as a lot of factors affect the retail prices of the products like currency fluctuations, packing style, fragility and size of product, distance from ports &, transportation costs, market dynamics, competition, shelf life, and uncertainties of sale in future especially for seasonal items.

    Hence, Junaid Makda requested to withdraw the condition of printing MRP on imported goods or otherwise, allow MRP of the imported items to be declared on WEBOC along with the Goods Declaration (GD) for tax assessment purposes instead of being printed on each and every imported item. After the imposition of MRP, what will be the status of Import Trade Price (ITP) / Customs Valuation of items in the third schedule which also needs to be clarified, he added.

  • Share market plunges 1.53 percent on border tension

    Share market plunges 1.53 percent on border tension

    KARACHI: The share market plunged by 1.53 percent on Monday due to spike in tension between Pakistan and India at Line of Control (LoC).

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 31,181 points as against 31,666 points showing a decline of 486 points.

    Analysts at Topline Securities said that KSE-100 index lost 486 points/-1.53 percent in today’s session to close at 31,180.

    The spike in tensions between two neighboring countries India & Pakistan at LOC (Line of control) was heightened as India has revoked article 370 in Kashmir valley through a presidential decree.

    They said that investor sentiments remained negative due to hurdles faced by the much anticipated market support fund as government is facing issues due to IMF restriction on issuance of sovereign guarantee.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that declining cement dispatches, Concerns raised by O&GMCs on RLNG intake and India’s amendment in its Parliament relating to Kashmir caused a major blow to Investor sentiment.

    Resultantly, Banks, Power, Steel, Cement, E&P etc traded in red and contributed most to the downfall of Index. Overall volumes reached 52 million, led by Cement Sector. MLCF ranked highest on the volumes table with 4.8 million shares, followed by TRG (4.2 million) and ISL (3.5 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-195 points), E&P (-75 points), Power Generation (-52 points), Fertilizer (-42 points) and O&GMCs (-26 points).

    Volumes increased from 46.5 million shares to 52.0 million shares (+12 percent DoD). Whereas, average traded value registered a decline of 12 percent DoD to reach US$ 11.3 million as against US$ 12.8 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, TRG, ISL, BOP and KEL, which formed 34 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively include NESTLE (+10 points), BAHL (+5 points), FATIMA (+4 points), ABL (+2 points) and ABOT (+2 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include UBL (-74 points), MCB (-41 points), HBL (-39 points), HUBC (-37 points) and PPL (-35 points).

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  • Rupee continues to make recovery against dollar

    Rupee continues to make recovery against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee continued to make recovery and gained 18 paisas against dollar on Monday owing to inflows under home remittances for Eid related expenses.

    The rupee ended Rs158.94 to the dollar as compared with Rs159.12 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee started recovery against the dollar during the last week and continued on the start of current week. The rupee has gained around Rs1.59 to the dollar during the past six consecutive sessions.

    The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs159.10 and Rs159.15. The market recorded day high o Rs159.10 and low of Rs158.94 and closed at Rs158.95.

    The exchange rate in open market also witnessed recovery in rupee value. The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs157.80/Rs158.80 from last Friday’s closing of Rs158.40/Rs159.40 in cash ready market.

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  • 2019/2020: Withholding tax rates issued on payment for goods and services

    2019/2020: Withholding tax rates issued on payment for goods and services

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued withholding tax rates on payment for goods and services during tax year 2019/2020 under Section 153 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    The FBR said that every prescribed person shall collect withholding tax under Section 153 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 from resident persons and permanent establishment in Pakistan of non-resident at the time the amount is actually paid.

    Under Section 153(1)(a) for sale of rice, cotton seed oil and edible oil, the tax rate shall be 1.5 percent of the gross amount.

    Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List : The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100% (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e. 3 percent of the gross amount

    Tax should be collected on supply made by distributors of fast moving consumer goods: two percent of gross amount in case of company; 2.5 percent of gross amount in case of other than company.

    Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100% (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e.: 4 percent of the gross amount in case of company; 5 percent of the gross amount in case of other than company.

    For sale of any other goods: 4 percent of the gross amount in case of company; 4.5 percent of the gross amount in case of other than company.

    Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List: The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100% (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e.: 8 percent of the gross amount in case of a company; 9 percent of the gross amount in case of other than a company.

    Goods: No deduction of tax where payment is less than Rs. 75,000/- in aggregate during a financial year [S.153(1)(a)].

    The FBR said that it shall be minimum tax for all except in the following cases where it shall not be minimum tax on sale or supply of goods, by:

    (i) a company being manufacturers of such goods or

    (ii) Public company listed on registered Stock Exchange in Pakistan.

    The FBR said that under Section 153(1)(b) the tax rate should be collected at 3 percent in case:

    (i) i. Transport services, freight forwarding services, air cargo services, courier services, man power outsourcing services, hotel services, security guard services, software development services, IT Services and IT enabled services as defined in clause (133) of Part I of the Second Schedule, tracking services, advertising services (other than by print or electronic media), share registrar services, engineering services, car rental services, building maintenance services, services rendered by Pakistan Stock Exchange Ltd. & Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Ltd. , inspection, certification, testing & training services.;

    Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List :The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100% (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e. 6 percent of the gross amount.

    ii. In case of rendering or providing of services other than as mentioned at (i) above;

    a) In case of company: 8 percent of the gross amount

    b) In any other case: 10 percent of the gross amount

    c) In respect of persons making payment to electronic & print media for advertising services: 1.5 percent of the gross amount.

    Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List : The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100% (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e.:

    a) In case of company: 16 percent of the gross amount.

    b) In any other case: 20 percent of the gross amount.

    c) In respect of persons making payment to electronic & print media for advertising services: 3 percent of the gross amount.

    Services : No deduction of tax where payment is less than Rs. 30,000/- in aggregate during a financial year [S.153(1)(b)].

    It shall be minimum cases in mentioned above cases.

    Under Section 153(1)(c), the tax rates shall be:

    Execution of Contracts

    i) In case of sportsperson: 10 percent

    ii) In the case of Companies: 7 percent

    iii) In the case of persons other than companies: 7.5 percent

    Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List: The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100% (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e.:

    i) In case of sportsperson: 20 percent

    ii) In the case of Companies: 14 percent

    iii) In the case of persons other than companies: 15 percent

    Minimum Tax for all whereas it will remain adjustable where payments are received on account of execution of contracts by Public Company listed on registered Stock Exchange in Pakistan.

  • FBR issues withholding tax rates on cash, online banking transactions

    FBR issues withholding tax rates on cash, online banking transactions

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued withholding tax card for tax year 2019/2020 and prescribed the rate of withholding income tax to be deducted/collected on transactions made through banking system either by cash or online transfers.

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  • RTO Karachi launches crackdown against tax evaders in car sale, purchase business

    RTO Karachi launches crackdown against tax evaders in car sale, purchase business

    KARACHI: Regional Tax Office (RTO)-II Karachi has launched crackdown against tax evaders engaged in business of car sale, purchase and service.

    The Broadening of Tax Base (BTB) Zone of RTO-II Karachi has launched action against tax evaders in automobile industry including persons own automobile showrooms, auto parts dealers, sellers, automobile workshops, car service center, sources said on Saturday.

    The sources said that the BTB zone conducted field survey and collected information from various survey already conducted. It was discovered that automobile showrooms, auto part dealers, sellers, automobile workshops and car service center having booming business activities but large number of them are not registered or not filing their tax returns.

    The BTB unit issued notices to 312 automobile showrooms, auto parts dealers, sellers automobile workshops and car service centers doing business activity in the various areas of Karachi and they are not on tax net.

    Notices under Section 176 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 have been issued to bring them into the tax net.

  • FBR explains federal excise duty on edible oils

    FBR explains federal excise duty on edible oils

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has released detailed explanations regarding the revised implementation of the federal excise duty (FED) on ghee and cooking/edible oils, as introduced through the Finance Act, 2019.

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