Spending via online apps: Pakistanis spent over Rs317bn in FY25, NA panel told

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Saturday informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance that Pakistanis spent over Rs 317 billion on various online apps from tech giants including Meta, Apple, Netflix, etc during 2024-25.

According to a presentation (“Digital Presence” Proceeds Levy Act, 2025) given by FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood to the committee on Saturday, the value of such transactions stood at above Rs 317 billion in 2024-25. Total number of transactions stood at 42,684,264 during this period.

The federal government has introduced the “Digital Presence” Proceeds Levy Act, 2025, which imposes a new tax on foreign vendors supplying digitally ordered goods and services to consumers in Pakistan. The tax rate has been proposed at 5 percent of the total amount paid.

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“Foreign vendors providing e-commerce goods of services will be taxed for income tax at 5 percent under the said Act,” the bFBR Chairman said.

The payment intermediaries including banks and financial institutions will collect tax on digital payments made to foreign vendors supplying goods or services into Pakistan.

The committee considered the proposed amendments to The Digital Presence Proceeds Tax Act, 2025. After detailed deliberations, the committee recommended that the Bill may be passed with minor amendments by the National Assembly.

The FBR Chairman informed that the FBR data revealed the spending spree covering a wide array of apps, from social media giants to online shopping websites and streaming services. Leading the charge is Facebook/Meta, with Rs. 12.3 billion in transactions.

Data further revealed that Apple/iTunes saw the highest number of transactions (over 5.1 million), totaling nearly Rs 6 billion.

The data revealed that the Google followed closely with 2.3 million transactions and a transaction value of Rs 5.94 billion. Subsequently, Ali Express made strong spending of Rs 4.9 billion in over 944,466 transactions.

The Temu carried out worth Rs. 1.8 billion transactions whereas number of transactions stood at 376,745 during this period.

Netflix witnessed 3.37 million transactions worth Rs. 2.79 billion.

“Other” online platforms had a total combined number of transactions at 28.6 million, totaling a staggering Rs. 281.4 billion.

The committee considered the proposed amendments to the Islamabad Capital Territory (Tax on Services) Ordinance, 2001. After detailed deliberations, the Committee recommended that the amendments proposed in the Bill may be passed by the Assembly.

The committee examined the proposed amendments to The Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. After detailed deliberations, the committee approved proposed amendments and suggested additional corrections and revisions to several clauses.

Members/MNAs Omer Ayub Khan, Zeb Jaffar, Muhammad Usman Awaisi, Muhammad Jawed Hanif Khan, Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Dr Nafisa Shah, Sharmila Sahiba Faruque Hashaam, Muhammad Mobeen Arif, Usama Ahmed Mela, Shahram Khan, Shahida Begum, Sami ul Hasan Gilani Ali Zahid besides the Minister of Finance and Revenue, Minister of State, Secretary, Finance, Chairman FBR attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025