The tax authorities have shown willingness to take back nearly Rs260 billion sales tax exemptions as a quid pro quo for not imposing additional income taxes on the salaried class, government sources told The Express Tribune on Friday. The Express Tribune had reported on Thursday that the IMF asked Pakistan to impose over Rs225 billion income taxes, including change in tax rates for the salaried class. The sources said that the tax authorities agreed to withdraw sales tax exemptions at the import stage but were reluctant to accept the demand to withdraw all domestic sales tax exemptions. The share of sales tax exemptions were about 44% of the total tax exemptions. These exemptions are given under the Eighth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act, which allows imposition of lower than standard 17% sales tax.

Source: The Express Tribune October 09, 2021 04:41 UTC