ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue has collected Rs 43 billion on account of withholding tax during 2014-15. Only 0.9 million out of 120 million total users deposited tax return claims and got back what they paid in advance. The remaining amount of more than Rs 40 billion was automatically confiscated by the government at the end of the financial year, officials of FBR told the Senate Standing Committee on IT.
FBR officials informed that on every mobile card re-charge of Rs.100, mobile phone companies deduct 14% withholding tax whereas 19.5% is charged as federal excise duty in capital or as provincial tax in provinces.
Answering a question, the FBR officials clarified that the telecom companies and thousands of franchisers were charging the 14% advance tax from consumers on every recharge but neither FBR nor PTA has human or technological expertise to check whether the huge advance tax collected from users was actually deposited in national exchequer or not.
Senate Standing Committee members reprimanded the Ministry of IT for charging irrational taxes from the telecom sector.
