LAHORE: Only overseas Pakistanis in the UAE and other countries are eligible to import cars under the gift or transfer of residence schemes, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has stated in a clarification.
Under the FBR rules, Pakistani nationals residing abroad, including dual nationals, can import old and used vehicles into the country under three schemes: personal baggage, gift scheme, and transfer of residence.
But to import vehicles under these schemes, the used cars should not be older than three years, and other vehicles should not be older than five years.
The structure of duty and taxes under the three schemes remains the same. Motorcycles and scooters can only be imported under the transfer of residence scheme.
Students receiving remittance from Pakistan, non-earning members of the Pakistani nationals living abroad and those who have imported, gifted or received a vehicle in the past two years are not eligible.
In order to encourage and support eco-friendly vehicles, the government offers a 50 per cent exemption from duty and taxes on the import of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) with a capacity up to 1800cc and a 25 per cent duty and taxes exemption on the import of HEVs with a capacity of 1800cc to 2500cc.
List of duties and taxes to import vehicles:
There are approximately nine million Pakistanis living in foreign countries.
The FBR clarification about only overseas Pakistanis being allowed to import cars into the country came in a statement where it rejected Pakistani media reports about the under-invoicing of large-scale clearance of luxury vehicles.
The tax authority pointed out that Pakistan Customs has gradually expanded the scope and coverage of its Faceless Customs Assessment (FCA) — which was launched in December 2024 — to facilitate trade and minimise human interface in the clearance of goods from ports.
Under the previous system, it was said that many officials misused the loopholes to their advantage for monetary gains.
It also denied a media report that said a 2023 Toyota Land Cruiser was allegedly assessed at a petty value of Rs17,635 (Dh229).
“On the contrary, it is clarified that the said vehicle was assessed at Rs 10.05 million (Dh130,000) and an amount of Rs 47.2 million (Dh612,000) was recovered in duty and taxes. In fact, all such vehicles have been assessed by Customs under FCA at higher assessed values without causing any loss of revenue. In the same (media) report, the issue of trade-based money laundering has also been alleged in the import of these vehicles, ignoring the fact that only overseas Pakistanis are entitled to such imports under gift or transfer of residence schemes,” it said in the clarification.
“These schemes do not involve any outward remittance of foreign exchange from Pakistan. Besides, import of used vehicles in the same manner has been taking place even before the launch of FCA,” the FBR said.
