Tax returns filing declines 12% in 2021

tax returns

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has registered a decline of 12 per cent in the annual returns filing for the tax year 2021, official documents revealed. According to the provisional statistics made available to BOL News, the number of return filers for the tax year 2021 fell to 3.04 million, compared with 3.45 … Read more

Finance Ministry notifies raise in govt employees’ salary

sales tax

KARACHI: The Ministry of Finance on Thursday notified the grant of an ad hoc relief of 10 per cent of basic pay of government employees that was announced in the Federal Budget 2021/22. A notification issued by the ministry said the president had sanctioned the allowance with effect from July 1, 2021 and till further … Read more

Punjab: Notification Of 25% Grant In Salaries Of Govt Employees Issued

Punjab: Notification Of 25% Grant In Salaries Of Govt Employees Issued

Notification of 25% special grant in salaries of government employees has been issued. According to the notification, the salaries of employees of grades one to 19 who do not take executive or special allowance have been increased and the decision to increase the salaries of employees will be effective from June 1. According to the … Read more

PTI-led government has made life a living hell for the masses in the name of Naya Pakistan: Bilawal

bilawal press conference

Following Prime Minister Imran’s budget speech in the National Assembly, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the “PTI-led government has made life a living hell for the masses in the name of Naya Pakistan.” Bilawal said that all the measures the government has taken, are completely in the favor of the rich instead of the poor. … Read more

Bilawal vs Qureshi showdown in National Assembly

bilawal and qureshi

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi traded heated words during a blaring session of the NA. After strictly criticizing the government over the budget 2021-22 and accusing the legislative process conducted on Tuesday, the PPP chairperson left the House. “He spoke a lot about [parliamentary] procedures; I would also like to … Read more

Tax Imposed On Mobile Phone Calls Will Affect Poor Section Harder

Tax Imposed On Mobile Phone Calls Will Affect Poor Section Harder

The government’s proposal to increase taxes on mobile phone calls will hit prepaid customers, especially those from the lower-income group, the hardest. According to the detail, the finance minister had announced the imposition of additional federal excise duty (FED) at the rate of 0.75 per 5 minutes on mobile phone calls. The industry protested the … Read more

Mobile phone users to pay at least 38% more for calls above 5 minutes

mobile service restored

KARACHI: The government’s decision to impose an additional federal excise duty on call duration above five minutes would become 38 per cent costlier for the mobile phone users that would further go up after every five minutes, industry sources said on Saturday. At present, the tax on a mobile phone call is Rs1.97 inclusive of … Read more

Budget 2021-22: What are the government’s revised plans

Shaukat Tarin Budget speech

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin delivers the final session of debate on Budget 2021-22 in the National Assembly. House considers recommendations made by Senate for incorporation to Budget 2021-22. Tarin emphasized “comprehensive and sustainable development this time around” during his budget speech. “We will give interest-free loans up to Rs300, 000 for agriculture. An interest-free loan … Read more

Finance Minister answers the reason behind going to IMF

Finance Minister hints at "extraordinary" drop in flour prices in next few days

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin spoke about the major challenges faced by the PTI government Tarin further explained how the government tried to deal with these challenges with limited resources. The biggest difficulty, he said, “When the PTI government came to power, was the country’s current account deficit of $20 million”. In the past, growth could … Read more

Budget 2021-22: Senate committee to increase government employee pay by 10% to 20%

Budget 2021-22

Karachi: In the budget 2021-22, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance unanimously suggested that government employees’ pay be increased from 10% to 20%. Senator Taleh, the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenues, convened a meeting on Monday at Parliament House to finalize budget recommendations for the years 2021-22. Senator Sherry Rehman … Read more

Pakistan Not Able To Increase Defence Budget Due To Previous Govts’ Debts

Pakistan Not Able To Increase Defence Budget Due To Previous Govts' Debts

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that Pakistan has not been able to increase the defence budget in the same way that the neighbouring countries have increased it, mainly due to the repayment of loans. During the National Assembly session in Islamabad, he said that the current government is paying more than Rs 2,000 billion … Read more

SBP issues policy to make banking process easy for disabled persons

State Bank moratorium on consumer loans’ principle

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday issued a policy for the financial inclusion of persons with disabilities to make banking process easy for them. The central bank issued the policy to make banking easy and convenient for them through supportive physical infrastructure, accessible products and services, assistive technologies, and supportive staff interactions. … Read more

Baluchistan budget 2021-22 session delayed, as opposition locks up assembly gates

balochistan assembly

Opposition members jammed access to the Balochistan Assembly grounds on Friday to avoid the demonstration of the provincial budget 2021-22. The budget was scheduled for 4 pm, but the budget session could not proceed further as opposition associates locked the assembly gates and prohibited officials from opening the gates. The opposition members sustained their protest … Read more

Shahbaz Sharif criticizes govt over ‘rising inflation, unemployment’

Shahbaz Sharif

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif has criticized the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government over the rising inflation and unemployment in the country. While addressing the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif stated that the unemployment rate has risen to 16 percent and inflation has reached its peak. He further asked about the promise made by … Read more

Govt and Opposition lawmakers almost come to blows

NA Unanimously Passes Resolution Condemning Attack On Hindu Temple

The National Assembly session today was full of chaos with Govt and Opposition was under fire, while accusing each other with continuous jeering. As opposition leader Shahbaz spoke, tempers rose when the government and Opposition lawmakers came face-to-face. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Ali Nawaz Awan can be seen in a video clip, retorting … Read more

FPCCI rejects tax officials’ arrest powers

6th of September

KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Tuesday rejected the proposed powers for the tax officials to make arrests on concealment of income, a statement said. The FPCCI President Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo slammed the amendment to Section 203A of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, proposed through the Finance Bill, … Read more

PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif accused government for revealing “fake” numbers in the budget. 

Shahbaz Sharif

PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif criticized the government, accusing it of misleading commonalities by revealing “fake” numbers in the budget. The leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly was speaking on the federal budget issued by the government a few days ago, plaintive that the poor were anguish from poverty while the government appealed it … Read more

Major tax incentives fuel equity market rally

fuel tax incentives

KARACHI: The equity market started the week on a positive note and remained in the green territory throughout the day, as investors’ sentiment was high due to the announcement of major incentives and reduction in taxes in the federal Budget 2021/22, dealers said on Monday.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed higher led by across-the-board scrips, as investors weighed the Federal Budget FY22 relief in the capital gains tax, withholding tax to brokerages and the relaxations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the industrial tariff.

“Record higher global crude oil prices, relief for the pharmaceutical sector and services exporters in the federal budget FY22 played a catalytic role in the bullish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) KSE-100 shares index gained 0.87 per cent, or 421.36 points, to close at 48,726.08 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.87 per cent, or 168.7 points, to close at 19,647.43 points.
As many as 413 scrips were active, of which 238 advanced, 161 declined and 14 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 1.2 billion shares, compared with the turnover of 1.02 billion shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market opened on a positive note; following the budget announcement on Friday evening.

“Dividend anticipation from SOEs [State-Owned Enterprises] helped the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) propel to hit the upper circuit; followed by [the] positive price performance of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).”

Similarly, positive measures for footwear, tyres, refinery, steel and cement sectors supported the listed scrips in these sectors to perform positive during the session. The market hit a high of 677 points after the pre-opening session, after which profit-booking brought the index down by 400 points; however, buying momentum continued, which enabled the index to close up 380 points (unadjusted).

An analyst at JS Global Capital said the PSX witnessed a post-budget rally where the KSE-100 index made an intraday high of 677 points before closing at 48,726 points.

“From the petroleum sector, OGDC, up 7.5 per cent; PPL, up 4.8 per cent; and Mari Petroleum, up 0.3 per cent; gained to close higher on the back of a substantially higher dividend target set by the government from these companies.

From the auto sector, Pak Suzuki (PSMC), up 7.5 per cent gained to close at its upper circuit; following the government’s decision to reduce the general sales tax (GST) on the locally-assembled cars up to 850cc to 12.50 per cent from 17 per cent in the Federal Budget 2021/22, while also providing an exemption from the federal excise duty.

Moreover, the refinery sector gained on significant developments in the Federal Budget for the sector.

“Going forward, we expect the market to persist upside momentum accredited to the notable budgetary measures; therefore, we recommend investors to take exposure in cement, steel, and refineries,” an analyst at Pearl Securities said.

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Rafhan Maize, up Rs190 to close at Rs9,690/share; and Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs150.47 to close at Rs2,156.84/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Sapphire Fiber; down Rs37.97 to close at Rs762.03/share; and Faisal Spinning, down Rs20 to end at Rs410/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Byco Petroleum with a turnover of 109.21 million shares. The scrip gained Re1 to close at Rs12.83 share; followed by the Hum Network with a turnover of 108.39 million shares, as it gained six paisas to close at Rs8.68/share. WorldCall Telecom was the third with a turnover of 98.04 million shares, as it gained one paisa to finish at Rs4.23.

[embedpost slug=”image-pakistan-forming-tech-subsidiary-for-tax-incentives/”]

Read more