Customs duty exemption on imported phones removed

ISLAMABAD: The customs duty exemption that was previously available on bringing one imported phone to Pakistan has been removed, as per the new laws.

The customs duty exemption that was previously

available on bringing one imported phone to Pakistan has been removed, as per
the new laws.

In November 2018, Minister of State for Revenue

Hammad Azhar had announced that Pakistani expatriates will be allowed to bring
only one mobile phone to the country, per year, free of customs duty as per the
new personal baggage rules. However, the new finance bill brought in by the government
has rescinded that option.

Although this suggestion came under criticism

from the government benches in the Senate's Standing Committee on Revenue and
Finance when the clauses of the finance bill were being deliberated, it seems
that the amendment proposed by the senators have not been accepted.

In the initial stages of the conversation on the

said clause, Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Shabbar Zaidi expressed some agreement
on continuing the exemption on phones already being used abroad.

A point was raised that a mobile phone user from

Pakistan, when abroad, does not have to face any blocking of the phones in
their possession, so if someone comes to Pakistan with a phone that has already
been operational, it should not be blocked.

However, this distinction is yet to be

formalized into law and the previously available option of registering an
imported phone and making it Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
(PTA)-compliant is, as of now, not available anymore.

This comes as bad news not only for those who

were planning to bring imported phones with them upon their return to Pakistan,
but more so for those who have already brought imported phones with them.

This scribe knows one such customer who now has

to pay Rs40,000 as custom duty on the phone that he brought home from abroad
recently. In his comment, he said, “All I can do now is cry.”

In November 2018, Minister of State for Revenue

Hammad Azhar had announced that Pakistani expatriates will be allowed to bring only
one mobile phone to the country, per year, free of customs duty as per the new
personal baggage rules. However, the new finance bill brought in by the
government has rescinded that option.

Although this suggestion came under criticism from the government benches in the Senate's Standing Committee on Revenue and Finance when the clauses of the finance bill were being deliberated, it seems that the amendment proposed by the senators have not been accepted.

In the initial stages of the conversation on

the said clause, Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Shabbar Zaidi expressed some
agreement on continuing the exemption on phones already being used abroad.

A point was raised that a mobile phone user from Pakistan, when abroad, does not have to face any blocking of the phones in their possession, so if someone comes to Pakistan with a phone that has already been operational, it should not be blocked.

However, this distinction is yet to be formalized into law and the previously available option of registering an imported phone and making it Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)-compliant is, as of now, not available anymore.

This comes as bad news not only for those who were planning to bring imported phones with them upon their return to Pakistan, but more so for those who have already brought imported phones with them.

This scribe has learned from one such customer who now has to pay Rs40,000 as custom duty on the phone he has brought home from abroad recently. In his comment, he said, “All I can do now is cry.”