Archive June 2020

What is Tax Appeal:

Most of the tax appeals in Pakistan arise between taxpayers and tax collectors (Inland Revenue Department) over the verification of the amount of taxable income and the imposition of default surcharges and penalties on it.

Right of Appeal:

To resolve such disputes, the law provides the procedure, which gives taxpayers the right to appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals) and, if still not satisfied, then there is more right to appeal to the high courts.

Also Read: Property Tax In Pakistan 2019-20

Who can appeal/Eligibility:

1. Any individual disappointed with any order passed by a Commissioner/Officer Inland Revenue has the privilege to appeal.
   
   
   
2. On account of an individual, the individual himself.
   
   
   
3. On account of the Association of Persons (AOP), any partner or individual from the Association.
   
   
4. On account of any company any the Principle officer
   
   
   
5. On account of the deceased person, any legal representative of the deceased.
   
   
   
6. On account of a person with a legal disability or unrelated or non-resident person, his / her representative.

Requirements for Making Tax Appeals in Pakistan:

In order to appeal, the person has to pay tax on the declared income along with the return of income.
Documents required to file an appeal with the Commissioner (Appeals) are:

1.      Appropriately checked from of Appeal in copy 

2.      Grounds of Appeal in copy 

3.      Two duplicates of the Order against which an appeal is filed. 

4.      Two duplicates of Notice of Demand issused u/s 137(2)

5.      Certificate of communication of memorandum/form of appeal and grounds of appeal to the Officer who issued the order.

6.      Certificate of service of order

7.      Proof of deposited appeal fee

8.      Powerof Attorney

Time limit for appeal:

The limitation of appeal filling is before the Commissioner (Appeals) is thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of the notice of demand identifying with an assessment, penalty, or some other enforcement action.

Source: Income Tax Appeals – FBR

Property tax in Pakistan is a tax that is owned by an individual or another legal entity, such as a corporation. Property taxes are paid by the property owner calculated by the government on property value and location basis.

Before going into the changes in property tax for the year 2019-20, the government has done, we need to understand what kind of taxes apply in Pakistan.

Types of Tax:

Basically, there are four types of tax:
• Capital Gains Tax
• Capital Value Tax
• Stamp Duty
• Withholding tax

Concept Of Tax Year:

Basically, the tax year is 12 months but for different from the year that starts in January and ends in December. The tax year 2019 starts from 01 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. The tax year ends on June 30. The tax year 2020 begins on July 1, 2019, and ends on June 30, 2020.

Amount of Tax Needs to Pay While Selling A Property:

When you are selling property in Pakistan, you will need to pay capital gains tax on the profit.

Capital Gain tax:

This is the tax that the seller has to pay. When the seller makes a profit when selling the property, it is the same capital that is taxable. Capital gains tax is levied when the property is sold within three years of purchase.

For the first year, a 10% tax is paid, while in the second-year sales are taxed at 7.5% and in the third year at 5%. Profitable tax collection is calculated with reference to the appropriate market value. If the property has been held for more than three years, the seller will not pay capital gains tax.

Amount of Tax Needs to Pay While Buying A Property:

Different types of tax need to pay while purchasing a property in the year 2019-2020 are mentioned below:

Capital Value Tax:

A provincial tax paid by the buyer while buying a property is known as capital value tax. Capital value tax is payable on the value of the asset acquired. According to the Finance Act, 2006, capital value tax is levied at the rate of 2% of the recorded value.

According to the new budget 2019-2020, the federal government has supported the abolition of DC rates. Currently, the total capital value tax for the urban property is 2%.

Stamp Duty:

Stamp duty is a tax on a legal document when buying a property. Basically, stamp duty is levied at 3% of the property’s DC rates.

Withholding Tax (WHT):

Withholding tax is very important. This is the federal tax that buyers and sellers have to pay when dealing with property paid at the time of the property deal

Withholding Tax for Buyer:

An individual who is an income tax filer is buying a property that has to pay a 2% holding tax and non-filers have to pay 45% tax.

People who are buying property need to pay tax only if the value of the property is more than Rs 4 million.

Withholding Tax For Seller:

If the seller of the property is an income tax filer then he has to pay a 1% tax whereas non-filers have to pay 25% tax. This rule has been passed so that more people can file income tax every year.

Source: https://www.fbr.gov.pk/

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), formerly known as Central Board of Revenue (CBR) was formed on April 1, 1924, with the enactment Central Board of Revenue  Act of 1924. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is a special government association of Pakistan to investigate money laundering and tax evasion crimes. The FBR works with all individuals and organizations to strengthen tax assessment in the nation.


The FBR perform special duties for FBR headquarters through tax inspectors who monitor tax evaders. The FBR also collects tax evasion intelligence and manages tax laws for the government of Pakistan and acts as Pakistan’s central agency of collection of revenue.

Mission of FBR

Federal Board of Revenue’s mission is to increase the capacity of the tax system through modern techniques by providing taxpayer guidelines, support, and the ability to pay taxes through a motivated, devoted, satisfied, and professional workforce.

Also Read: What is Value Added Tax

Functions of FBR

The FBR is a semi-autonomous federal agency of Pakistan responsible for enforcing financial laws and collecting taxes for the Government of Pakistan. Provides approval for appeal/reference before High Courts and CPL / review before the Supreme Court and approval for litigation in courts. The responsibilities of FBR are:

• Formulating and managing fiscal policies.

• Federal duties and collection of revenues, taxes and other levies,

• Intentional court work in deciding tax cases and appeals

FBR basically works through its main collection branches across the country involving Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) and Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs). To perform functions accurately on the basis of different duties FBR consist of following wings:

S.No.	FBR Wings
01	Inland Revenue
02	Customs
03	Admin
04	Taxpayers Audit
05	Legal
06	Facilitate and Taxpayer Education (Fate)
07	Strategic Planning Reforms &Statistics(SPR&S)
08	Human Resource Management (HRM)
09	Information Technology
10	Accounting
11	Legal and Accounting – Customs

FBR Wing has responsibilities and functions according to their specifications. Rather than other wings there are two major wings of FBR with major function

A) The Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue Service (formerly known as the Income Tax Department) levies domestic taxes, including Income Tax, Sales tax and Federal excise duty, and is a central component of the FBR.

B) The Custom
The Pakistan Customs Service directs import obligations and various taxes levied at the import stage, also manages international trade and manages the limits and restrictions imposed by government legislation.

For the purpose of tax collection and prosecution of tax evaders, the powers and functions of the FBR include yet are not restricted to:

• Investigating and auditing tax matters,
  
  
•  Arrest warrants, with attachments.
  
  
• Also, the public auction of movable and immovable assets was non-compliant.
  
  
  

Here are budget 2020-21 highlights:

1- No new tax to give relief to people
2- Ahsas program to continue by increased budget
3- To improve tax collection
4- To decrease in govt. expenditure
5- To improve subsidy system
6- Poverty elevation program
7- Higher education budget increased
8- Measures taken to improve remittances
9- Kamyab Naujawan program budget introduced
10- To improve public services through E-governance
11- Artist welfare fund increase
12- Inflation to be decrease
13- FBI increase by 25%
14- To improve health services by ICT
15- To open smart schools
TAXES :
16- POS of retailer business to increase
17- 14% to 12% sales tax on retailers
18- Hotel minimum tax decrease to 0.5% July to September
19- Fixed tax scheme introduced for Small and medium businesses
20- Export rebate, to direct transfer in business bank accounts
21- Raw Material fully exempt from custom duty to respective nature of businesses having 20000 items
22- Custom duty of 200 items in tariff line decrease
23- PRD to decrease
24- Poor people benefits — corona—supplements etc to be exempted from duties and taxes
25- Custom official powers has been decreased
26- Inclusive of advance ruling methods in custom law
27- Unregistered sales tax person—CNIC condition from 50 thousand to one lakh
28- Covid 19 sales items exemption period increased
29- 237 sro for relief extended for further 3 months
30- 11th schedule of sales tax to improve
31- Increase in FED in all type of cigarettes and its articles increased to 100%
32- Caffine items FED from 13 to 25%
33- Double pick up FED to be taxed as other vehicles
34- 17% sales tax on potassium cholaride decrease

35- 14% sales tax decrease to 12% of big retailers
36- Wastage to fixed in manufacturing business
37- 12 schedule sales tax of VAT—manufacturers no sales tax
38- Cement sector decrease from 2 to 1.75 per kilo
39- If Appeal than reference can be made to following years
40- ADRC law to be change
41- STAY provision to be made in ADRC
42- FED law to be enhanced
43- Sales tax act 9th schedule mobile phone manufacture decrease in sales tax
44- E Audit / video link introduced for audit
45- Online sharing of assess data introduced
46- WHT Regime to delete 9 sectors (Education and marriage hall etc)
47- Commercial importer and manufacturer importing on raw material and machinery from 5.5 top 2% and 1%
48- Machinery examination certificate abolished
49- Aop and individual allowed expenditure to be claimed against property Income
50- Foreign remittances transfer from one bank to another – no tax on that
51- Tax Refund procedure – now changed – one centralized system introduced
52- 152 WHT of non resident for Hajj Companies
53- Advance tax abolished under section 231b and 234 on rickshaw and cars
54- Advance tax payment threshold increased
55- Exemption certificate through automation system
56- Schedule 12 Exemption certificate for advance tax to be produced by person who had already paid advance tax
57- RIET residential properties CGT period extended
58- Free Zone benefits also to be given modern developers
59- To simple law and business only for PE tax deduction to be made
60- Tax deduction under section 235 now fully adjustable
61- Inclusion in Active tax payer list, proper enquiry to be conducted
62- Automatic return process system to be introduce for any error in return if any
63- For and increase in data base and WHT 236V to be introduce
64- Non resident and resident tax should be same
65- Purchase and leased vehicle threshold to be same
66- Depreciation to be as per best international practice
67- NPO status per 2nd schedule section 100C condition to be strictly followed and only those NPO be there who benefits the community in general
68- 10% tax to be paid while filing appeal
69- Auto system advance tax to introduce through IRIS by 5th of every advance tax due date
70- CGT on Immoveable property decrease from 5 years to 4 years
71- Non Resident- royalty, fees etc to be decrease

72- FTR to be filed with section 114
73- Appeal fees increased
74- Section 165 WHT for bio annual now to be filed by 3 months instead of 6 months
75- Immoveable taxation CGT from 8 to 4 years and every year decrease by 25%

Value Added Tax is a consumption tax that is levied on a product whenever it is added to the price at every stage of the supply chain from production to sales. The VAT that the consumer pays is on the cost of the product, less than the price of the material used in the product that has already been taxed.

Scope of VAT:

Value Added Tax is usually expressed as a percentage of the total cost and increases government revenue without punishing success or wealth. VAT covers the supply of both goods and services (including imported) at a uniform rate of 15% unless subject to VAT exemption. Businesses with an annual turnover of less than Rs 7.5 lakh will be out of the VAT net.

Advantages of VAT:

1. VAT offers more benefits than the national sales tax as :
   
   
2. It is very easy to track.
   
   
3. Exact tax is levied on every step of production.
   
   
4. Furthermore, because VAT is only levied on every price increase, it is not a sale of a product itself due to which it ensures that no double tax has been levied on the same product.

Also Read: What is Withholding tax?

Impact of VAT on Improving Economy Documentation And Revenue Collection:

All commercial activities related to rallies, production, and distribution of goods and provision of services are brought under the tax net which is tolerated to the extent of default registration. As a result of documenting each body in the supply chain. People who are not registered in the chain are not in a position to claim or deduct the tax paid at the purchase level. VAT promotes financial documents using its built-in invoice-based credit mechanism. The tax invoice is a bloodline of documents related to VAT. VAT includes self-enforced features and business transaction documents through tax invoicing.

Source: Investopedia