ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has sent a draft of the amended finance bill to the Ministry of Law to present the mini-budget.
According to the sources, the finance bill will be presented to Cabinet after approval from the law ministry.
Per details, the amended finance bill includes a proposal to abolish the tax exemption of Rs350 billion while the government has also changed the Tax Laws (Fourth) Amendment Bill.
In addition to this, amendments in schedules fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth have been proposed to eliminate tax exemptions.
According to sources, the target of the petroleum development levy will be reduced from Rs600 billion to Rs356 billion, while tax exemption on mobile phones, stationery, and packaged food items is likely to be abolished.
They said that apart from exports, sales tax exemption will also be withdrawn from zero-rating, while a sales tax rate of 17% will be applicable on items on which sales tax exemption is more.
Tax exemptions for certain sectors are also likely to be scrapped.
Per sources, the revenue board has proposed to give the power to increase or decrease the petroleum development levy to the Prime Minister and has proposed to raise the tax collection target from Rs5,829 billion to Rs6,100 billion.
Moreover, a reduction of Rs200 billion in the development program has also been proposed by the FBR.
They further mentioned that the proposed increase in tax rates on vehicles larger than 800cc and ban on import of luxury vehicles is also a part of the amendment bill, while the proposal to increase or ban import duty on imported food for dogs and cats is also included.
The draft also includes a proposal to increase duty on cosmetics and to ban the import of canned food items.
Sources said that under the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, the government would have to approve the mini-budget by January 12.
