Senate Committee approves key amendments in Finance (Amendment) Bill, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs approved on Tuesday key amendments in Finance (Amendment) Bill, 2018 relating to the tobacco industry, import duty on vehicles with more than 1800cc engine power, tax deduction exemption for non-filers while doing transaction to the Dam-Fund, and bringing the percentage of tax deduction for non-filers on bank transactions to 0.6%.

The meeting of the committee was held here under the chairmanship of Senator Farooq H. Naik and was attended among others by Senators Mohsin Aziz, Khanzada Khan, Haroon Akhtar Khan, Dr. Musadiq Malik, Muhammad Ateeq Sheikh, Muhammad Akram, Minister of State for Revenue and officers from FBR and customs.

The meeting further discussed the amendments in Customs Act 1969, Sales Tax Act 1990, Income Tax Ordinance 2001, Federal Excise Tax 2005 as part of the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

The amendment regarding revised tax rates on salaried and non-salaried incomes was approved by the committee with amendment in the last slabs of both categories.

Similarly with regard to tax rate on highest slab of non-salaried income, the committee recommended to change the rate from 29 to 25 percent and the tax rate on highest slab of salaried income was recommended to be changed from 25 to 20 percent.

The Committee, however, did not approve the amendment on reducing tariffs on import of 34 items intended to enhance exports and support local industry with a vote of 3-2.

Senators Musadiq Malik, Haroon Akhtar and Muhammad Akram opposed the amendment while Senators Mohsin Aziz and Mian Ateeq supported the amendment.

The amendment of removing the bar on purchase of property for non-filers among a few other matters will be discussed in the meeting to be held on Wednesday.