LAHORE: Pakistan has the highest value added tax (VAT) in the region (South Asia) and the UAE.
This was revealed in a report titled “Indirect Taxes: Current Trends across South Asia and UAE” by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).
The report claimed that VAT rates range from the highest of 17 percent in Pakistan to lowest of 5 percent expected in the UAE on January 1, 2018. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India have rates between the two poles. The report was launched on Tuesday in which finance professionals and ACCA members discussed insights on the effective implementation of VAT.
The ACCA is the global body for professional accountants. It offers business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world, who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management. The report further revealed that the rise of consumerism in the region, the growing middle class with spending power, lifestyle spending and urbanisation was fuelling demand driven economies.
The report also presented around 11 recommendations including deploying professionals, incentivising taxpayers, improving the appeals process and modernising state institutions.
While speaking on the occasion, ACCA Head of Policy for MENASA, Arif Masud Mirza, said that ACCA has produced the report, Indirect Taxes – Current Trends across South Asia and the UAE, from years of engaging with stakeholders, who have voiced loud concern over the aggressive and ad hoc manner in which indirect taxes are being implemented and collected, we thought we would document the region’s currents trends to start a dialogue for better understanding the appreciation and planning of indirect taxes, especially VAT.
