ISLAMABAD: The ministry of commerce has said that only those importers, who are on the Active Taxpayers List (ATL) of Sales Tax issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), are eligible to import white sugar on concessional rate of tax.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of Cabinet in its meeting held in last week of July 2020 allowed import of 200,000 tons white sugar by private importers.
The commerce ministry in a notification said that the import of white sugar by private importers is allowed following concessions:
i. Reduction of sales tax on import of sugar to one percent;
ii. Reduction of withholding income tax on import of sugar, under Section 148 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, to 0.25 percent;
iii. Removal of value added sales tax at three percent on import of sugar.
According to criteria laid down by the ministry for the allocation sugar import quota to interested importers is subject to the following:
i. The sugar import quota shall be issued on first come first serve basis;
ii. The minimum quantity of quota allocation to a single importer shall be 520 tons and the maximum quantity of quota allocation to a single importer shall be 10,400 tons;
iii. An importer who has been granted sugar import quota under this scheme shall be bound to open irrevocable letter of credit (LC) or make advance payment for import of allocated amount of sugar within five working days of grant of quota. Failure to open irrevocable LC or make advance payment for import, verifiable from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), of the allocated amount of sugar within five working days of grant of quota shall result in cancellation of the allocated sugar import quota;
iv. The sugar import quota shall be valid for import of arrival in Pakistan till November 15, 2020;
v. The importer shall be required to be on the ATL Sales Tax of FBR to be eligible under this scheme.
