In Islamabad, it has been suggested that the tax on imported mobile phones will be increased in the federal budget for the upcoming financial year 2024-25.
Media reports indicate that there is a proposal to impose federal excise duty on imported mobile phones, with FED gross assessment being considered for such imports.
Additionally, there is a proposal to raise the Pakistan Telecommunication Tax (PTA) on luxury imported mobile phones. Moreover, a General Sales Tax (GST) of up to 25 percent is currently applied to imported mobile phones.
According to the reports, the forthcoming Finance Bill is expected to propose a further increase in GST on imported mobile phones. However, implementing additional GST on top of the existing 25 percent could pose challenges.
It has been reported that new revenue measures totaling Rs2,000 billion will be introduced for the first time in history.