ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has almost finalized preparations to brief the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on the differential of income tax rate between industrial and commercial importers.
Source told Customs Today that the FBR chairman will brief the committee today (Wednesday). The chairman has also arranged a team of tax officials to assist him in smooth answers to the possible questions of the members of the committee. In this regard, the chairman has obtained a comprehensive briefing from the department concerned to which he himself had been heading for a number of years in the past.
Briefing paper prepared for this purpose reveals the FBR’s response that presently there is no withholding tax on either use or right to use of commercial, industrial and scientific equipment or on renting out of machinery. Therefore, it is proposed that a 10 percent withholding tax be imposed on renting out machinery and for use or right to use commercial, scientific or industrial equipment, in case of residents also, and be treated as final tax liability.
The source further said that the Finance Ministry had also prepared briefing papers for today’s meeting on the topic of state of national economy in the light of recent report released by the State Bank of Pakistan which had indicated ups and downs of different sectors along with numerical statistics.
When contacted, the National Assembly Standing Committee Secretariat confirmed the revelations made by the source about today’s meeting, further adding that committee would also discuss the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2014 as well as The Banks (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, both the government bills.
