Tag: digital service

  • Integration Xperts Breaks Ground as Pakistan’s First Salesforce Value Added Reseller

    Integration Xperts Breaks Ground as Pakistan’s First Salesforce Value Added Reseller

    Karachi, November 14, 2023: In a pioneering move, Integration Xperts has secured the distinction of becoming Pakistan’s inaugural Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Salesforce, the renowned global leader in customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

    (more…)
  • SBP allows transfer of up to $200,000 as payment for foreign digital services

    SBP allows transfer of up to $200,000 as payment for foreign digital services

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed banks to release a maximum amount of $200,000 per year as payment for digital services provided by foreign companies.

    The central bank on Thursday issued a new mechanism for payments to globally recognized digital service provider companies against acquisition of digital services by local companies for ease of doing business in the country.

    The SBP amended Foreign Exchange Manual and allowed general permission to banks to release foreign exchange up to a maximum of USD 200,000/-, or equivalent in other currencies, per year, for each company/ firm/ sole proprietorship incorporated/ established in Pakistan on account of commercial payments, pertaining to digital services, in favor of digital service provider companies.

    The release of payment is limited to foreign companies listed by the SBP, which are included:

    1.  Adobe

    2.  Affinity

    3.  Airtable

    4.  Alibaba Group

    5.  Amazon

    6.  Apple

    7.  AppLovin

    8.  Asana

    9.  Atlassian

    10.  Box

    11.  Calendly

    12.  Coursera

    13. Digital Ocean

    14. DocSend

    15. DocuSign

    16. Dropbox

    17. Expensify

    18. Facebook

    19. Figma

    20. FreshBooks

    21. Front

    22. GoDaddy

    23. Google

    24. Hootsuite

    25. Hubspot

    26. IBM

    27. Instagram

    28. Intercom

    29. InVision

    30. LinkedIn Corporation

    31. Mailchimp

    32. Marketo

    33. Mendix

    34. Microsoft Corporation

    35. Optimizely

    36. Oracle Corporation

    37. Pilot

    38. Pipe Drive

    39. Poynt

    40. Intuit/ QuickBooks

    41. Red Hat/ OpenShift

    42. Sketch

    43. Salesforce

    44. SAP SE / SAP

    45. SEMrush

    46. Shopify

    47. Slack Technologies/Slack

    48. Squarespace

    49. Tencent

    50. Trello

    51. Twilio

    52. Twitter

    53. Udacity

    54. Udemy

    55. VMware

    56. WhatsApp

    57. WordPress

    58. Xero

    59. YouTube

    60. Zapier

    61. Zendesk

    62. Zoom/ Video Communications

    The SBP said that the ultimate beneficiary of remittances should only be the company (including their affiliates or associated entities).

    However, up to a maximum amount of USD 25,000/-, out of the total annual limit of USD 200,000/-, can be remitted to those digital service provider companies which are not listed in the Appendix V 147, against acquisition of digital services.

    The remittances should only be made by an Authorized Dealer designated by the remitter for this purpose under acknowledgement to Foreign Exchange Operations Department (FEOD) SBP-BSC. No Authorized dealer will remit funds under this general permission unless it has been acknowledged as designated Authorized Dealer by the FEOD SBP-BSC.

    The SBP said that the banks will ensure that it has satisfied itself with the genuineness and bonafides of the applicant, through appropriate CDD and customer risk profiling, specifically in light of AML/CFT regulations.

  • Non-ATL person to pay 10pc withholding tax for offshore digital service

    Non-ATL person to pay 10pc withholding tax for offshore digital service

    ISLAMABAD: Persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List (ATL) shall pay 10 percent as withholding tax on payment of fee for offshore digital service to non-resident person under Section 152(1C) of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued withholding tax card for tax year 2020 effective from July 01, 2019. The FBR said that tax shall be deducted on remittance outside Pakistan, of fee for off-shore digital services , chargeable to tax u/s 6, to a non-resident person on behalf of any resident or a permanent establishment of a non-resident in Pakistan.

    A banking company or financial institution shall collect withholding tax under this section from non-resident persons at the time the amount is actually paid at 5 percent of the gross amount.

    The FBR said that persons not appearing in the Active Taxpayers’ List: The applicable tax rate is to be increased by 100 percent (Rule-1 of Tenth Schedule to the Ordinance), i.e. 10 percent of the gross amount.

    The FBR said that tax will be deducted from Non-resident on any payment of insurance premium or re-insurance to a non-resident person under Section 52(1AA) of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 at 5 percent of gross amount by every person making the payments from non-resident person at the time the amount is actually paid.

    The FBR further said that tax will be deducted under Section 152 (1AAA) on payments for advertisement services from non-resident person relaying from outside Pakistan.

    The tax shall be collected by every person making payment non-resident at the time the amount is actually paid. The tax rate shall be 10 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. 20% of the gross amount.