October 11, 2019: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs was informed that the government has received Rs7 billion additional tax in last six months after charged the customs duty on mobile phones for overseas Pakistanis.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other relevant government institutions during this period observed that duty imposition on imported mobile had positive impact on foreign investment and local digital industry, Member Customs Policy, Muhammad Javed Ghani said this while briefing the Senate committee.

The committee, which met with Senator Farooq Hamid Naek in the chair at the Parliament House, was further apprised that the FBR had implemented the automation and simplification policy in all tier of the institution including the sales tax, customs and federal excise duty for maintain the transparency.

While discussing the impact of customs duty on mobile phones, the committee lauded the measures taken by the FBR for collecting Rs7 billion in taxes so far.

The FBR senior official asserted that this would discourage smuggling, since no matter how the device was procured and the user would be taxed once a SIM was inserted. Foreigners will be exempted for 60 days after which they will have to pay tax.

The committee was also briefed regarding the “Tax Asan Application”.

It was recommended that the decision on the issue would be taken up in the next meeting and the committee decision will be communicated to the petitioner.

Discussing the issue of smuggling of LED TVs referred by the chairman Senate which was deferred due to absence of chairman FBR.

While taking up the matter of closure of regular container liner KGS service, it was decided that the committee was satisfied with the response provided by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs that the service is in place.

The committee passed the Companies Act, 2019 unanimously with amendment with consent of member in-charge. Other bills that included the Maternity and Paternity Bill, 2018, the Constitution Amendment Act, 2019, were deferred due to absence of the movers.

Starred question asked by Senator Mir Kabir Muhammad Ahmed Shahi regarding number of employees from Balochistan in the Ministry of Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs was deferred due to the absence of Adviser to PM on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs.

The committee directed the ministry that the adviser must be present in the next meeting of the committee to answer queries, since being a policy issue he is the best person that can respond.

The consideration of public petition submitted by Muhammad Irfan addressed to Senate chairman regarding simplification of the procedure of filing tax returns was deferred.

The meeting was attended by Senators Dr Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Syed Shibli Faraz, Dilawar Khan, Anwar Ul Haq Kakar, Mir Kabir Muhammad Ahmed Shahi and senior officers from the Ministry for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, FBR along with all other concerned officers.

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