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Friday, March 29, 2024

Govt allocates Rs10 billion fund to the IT companies

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has announced the establishment of an Rs10 billion fund to give cash rewards to the IT companies based on their exports. A 5 per cent rebate on exports has been announced for the companies. The government has also decided to use 1 per cent of the annual remittances by the IT sector for further development of the sector.

Minister of Finance Shaukat Tarin on Tuesday approved the establishment of an Rs10 billion fund for the provision of cash rewards to IT companies against their exports records.

The government will also give these companies a five per cent rebate on exports.

This was announced by Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen in a recent meeting with the association of software houses.

The minister acknowledged that the IT sector’s exports needed to be incentivized, and said that the government will do take appropriate steps to support the sector.

National media agencies reported that Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA) while welcoming the decision by the government, expressed concerns with the attitude of the national revenue authority Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR).

PASHA representatives while briefing the finance minister on the issues faced by the sector, accused FBR of harassing the exporters, curbing the growth of Pakistan’s IT sector.

The meeting also decided that 1 per cent of the annual remittances by the IT sector will be allocated to Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB).

The funds would be used by the board to finance the skill development of the youth, capacity enhancement of the companies in IT, and branding, marketing, and establishment of software parks across the country.

It was also decided that foreign IT companies will be allowed to take the profits back to their own countries.

In a much welcome move, the finance minister agreed to allow the freelancers in the country to open special dollar accounts to receive foreign currency for their exports.

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FBR Prize for retailers 

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday launched a prize scheme for customers of retailers, who integrated their sales through Point of Sales (POS) with the tax system.

The FBR issued SRO 1005(I)/2021 for launching the prize scheme for customers of tier-1 retailers, who have integrated their retail outlets with the FBR computerized system for real-time reporting of sales and mystery shopping in respect of verification of invoices from such retailers.

This is the procedure for the prize according to Pkrevenue:

The customers of the integrated tier-1 retailers, whose names and CNICs are notified through random computerized draw shall be entitled to prizes in respect of their purchases from the integrated tier-1 retailers.

The customers shall verify the electronically generated invoice of integrated retailers either through “tax asaan” application or by sending SMS to number 9966.

The application shall notify the customer regarding the status of the invoice either as “verified” or “unverified”.

In case of a verified invoice, the customer shall furnish one time, the following detail to the online system, namely: Name; CNIC; and Mobile number

Names and CNICs of the customers shall be included in the random computerized draw upon fulfillment of the requirement.

In case of an unverified invoice, the customer shall report the same through the system. The Board shall conduct inquiry and take appropriate action under the relevant provisions of law.

The computerized draw for the prizes shall be held in the first week of every month starting from the month of August, 2021 at the FBR Headquarters and the invoices of the immediately preceding month shall be entered in the draw.

Draw winners shall be required to perform biometric verification, at the nearest e-sahulat facility of NADRA and submit a scanned copy on “tax assan” application. After successful biometric verification, winners shall be required to provide their IBAN through “tax asaan” application.

The total prize money and the denomination of the prizes shall be decided on a month-to-month basis by the Board.

Additionally, mystery shopping shall be conducted by the entity decided by the board, who will shop at a random tier-one retailer.

The person or firm authorized by the Board under sub-rule (1), shall verify the invoices from the online system of FBR and in case of a fake or invalid invoice, report the matter to the Board for necessary action as per relevant provisions of the Act and the rules thereunder.

Read More: How a Pakistani defrauded a taxman and built a business empire in Birmingham?

Any other person may, in case of a fake or invalid invoice, report the matter to the Board for necessary action as per relevant provisions of the Act and the rules thereunder

10bn allocated to research

Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani on 4th August said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision to provide jobs to the educated youth, established Pakistan’s first research university called Pak-Austria Fakhushole University.

While delivering concluding remarks at an international conference, Ghani further said that the KPK government has also allocated 10 billion rupees to promote research for all universities of the province.

He stated that the country imports vehicles, health machinery, and even juices from abroad, now providing research education facilities and resources to the students in the country, it will produce positive results.

Ghani said that it is the government’s responsibility to provide resources to the students while the latter should work for the betterment of the country.

The era of traditional education is over, in such a situation, there is a need for education that can provide employment to the youth and provide an edge to the country in the world arena, he said.

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