PTA expects people to pay 1,000pc duty on imported phones

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) website must be malfunctioning. Because if it is not then the policymakers on top have actually thought that it is perfectly alright to charge approximately Rs50,000 tax on a phone worth Rs1,000.

Social media is ripe with people sharing screenshots and pictures of printed challan forms from the PTA mobile registration site where the mobile phones in concern are worth Rs1,000 to Rs4,000 but the taxes to be paid to make them PTA compliant are in the neighbourhood of Rs45,000 to Rs52,000.

One particular customer, who shared his PTA receipt with Pakistan Today, has been slapped with Rs219,248 customs duty. Just to put things in perspective, the price of the latest iPhone XS Max is less than Rs200,000.

Despite repeated attempts, no official from PTA was available for comment. A senior PTA official, who contacted independently, asked for proof of these receipts and promised to forward them to the officials concerned.

However, the response from PTA came only after this story was published on June 28, 2019. The clarification from the PTA representative said, “PTA is only responsible for checking the IMEI of mobile devices to ensure that it is valid, and not a duplicate or reported stolen. The custom duties/tax calculation of mobile device being registered is
determined by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).”

The clarification also said that in certain cases of high tax on a relatively low end mobile device, “that device had a reprogrammed IMEI belonging to a high end phone” and that “these reprogrammed devices shall be blocked when identified.”

Meanwhile, the complaints of outrageous custom duties on phones have been pouring in over social media with some customers sharing their plans of selling their phones to their relatives and friends abroad instead of paying PTA the tax amounts.

44 COMMENTS

  1. Fuck U PTA Bastards Fuck PTI Imran Khan Murdabad, PTA is Full of Son Of Bitches, This Country Poor People Can’t Survive Now PTA is Corrupt they Will Eat the Tax FBR Go Fuck Your Fathers of PTA

    • You son of a bitch, , illiterate guy, Jahil, deserve to screwe by Nawaz Sharif and Zardary and very happy with these looters.

      • Aftab this clearly shows what type of upbringing your parents did. People like you are the reason we have to face all of these issues. IK is looting mango people trying to take away all the luxuries from them while going around the world and enjoying all the luxuries with out tax

  2. PTA should apologize people whose mobile are blocks and they should come with proper system. Bcoz of PTA many shops are down and people who use to do part time business has down fall. PTA please don’t kill us

    • Yes. PTA should apologize for. PTA is not working fully in this regard so PTA needs directions to make the policy clear and easy for the people and they should have check and balance with the banks also. We hope PTA will solve this complication in the favor of the people and in the favor of country as well.

  3. I was trying to register my phone 100 times via website which PTA provide us for registration.but i did not recieve any confirmation email that is the reason i was unable to do further process.now they blocked my phone. I wrote a complaint through a website still no response.now i decided i am not going to pay even single penny to them.thanks for wasting our time u can not do anything more than that

  4. Its not PTA wise ppl. PTA takes care (regulates) of telecom networks and connectivity to other platforms through telco networks. Tax is the domain of FBR/Customs. Tax duties corresponding to each handset/device is determined by FBR. Dear author its suggested to do some study before spewing such nonsense through your irresponsible writeup. PTA is doing a great job and trying its best to facilitate ppl within its given resources.

  5. I also facing issue about tax fee from pta I apply a GPS tracking device for texatione device price is only 12$ (Pakistani 2000) but PTA send me 9800 rupees tax what is this and what can I do plz suggest me

  6. PTA has charged Rs.4800 duty on a Second hand Fujitsu phone. Pricing it @ US$50. While importer are paying only Rs.500 duty on same phones.pricing them @ less than US$35.
    Care to explain PTA

  7. Due to bad & Corrupt Policy of PTA & PTI about phone Tax, Millions of Pakistani people are in Angar including me. They Will teach u a lesson in next election.I was an active supporter of PTI.I am feeling bad for that.

  8. Mera mob Samsung glaxy note 4 ha aur tex us pe 64280 btaya hai
    Jb se ye imran aya ha bander k mUn wala awam to doooob gaye

  9. Khaan sahib me apkey sth ho likin merey karobar khtm
    Kr diya ha apney ya koi tatika nai
    Merey porey khandan ney apko vote diya the me usmey shamil the mujhe apsey bht umeedey thi or me janta hu key mulk mushkil halat seyguzer rha ha me ya baat smjta hu likin khan sahib agr ap hum sey 1 phone me 15 % bhi agr tex letey ha yu hum khush han or hum khushi sey dengey khan sahib bht log pareshan ha logo ka rooz gar khtm ho chuka ha bs is liya shop pr bhetey ha key allah apko smjdey or ap hamarey liya koi behter hul nikaley shukriya imran khaan allah apki hifazat or apko bari zindagi dey

    • app agar abhi bhi inke sath ho to app yahi deserve krte ho k ap raod pe akar bheek mango inshALLAH TALA

    • PTI har WO tareeqa dhoond rahi ha jahan say pesay milen kunkay yeah selected govt ha agli baar ek seat bhi nahi milay gi. loot loot Kay bahir bhagen gay sab. toilet tax bhi lag jaye ga very soon per flush 500

  10. پی ٹی اے نے میرا نوٹ 8 موبائل بلاک کیا ہے اور اب 53313 روپے ٹیکس مانگ رہے ہیں خدا کی پناہ یہ کوئی طریقہ ہے ٹیکس لینے کا عمران خان ہم نے اس لیئے تو آپ کو ووٹ نہیں دیا تھا کہ چوروں کو چھوڑ کر غریب عوام کا جینا محال کر دیں اب تو ہمیں بھی وہ افواہیں سچ لگنے لگی ہیں جس کے بارے میں آپ کے مخالفین کہتے رہتے ہیں کہ عمران خان کا اصل پاکستان اور پاکستان کی معیشت کو تباہ کرنا ہے اور اگر دیکھا جائے تو تو اب تک آپ اسی ایجنڈے پر چل رہے ہیں جس کے بارے میں مخالفین کہتے ہیں جبکہ
    جن کو آپ چور ڈاکواور کرپٹ کہتے تھے وہ ابھی بھی مزے سے کبھی جیل میں تو کبھی باہر گھوم رہے ہیں لیکن ان سے آپ ایک ڈھیلا بھی نہ نکلوا سکے

    • Hahahahaha thats how you promote technoogy in your country to take extra taxes on mobile phones so people wont buy them to fullfill their needs.
      But its our fault too we should buycot all items like this so they wont recieve the tax and they wil change their policy
      F…..ing hypocrites.

  11. Please do some research before spreading a word. This particular case is not a malfunctioning of PTA but the mobile shown in picture is registered with clone imei number (fake imei number). That is why pta system is showing this amount.

  12. I am ready i am ready to pay my phone tax but no info how and where to pay tax..?? Plz help me.

  13. Itna kuch ho jany k baad bhi awaam sakoon se ghar Mai bethi Hai. Jab tak apny haq k liye ye awaam road pe nahi aygi. Tab tak is awam ka kuch nahi hoga. Ye nye ane waly hukmuraan awaam ko yuhin Tax k Nam pe looty rHenge… #bahir_kab_niklogy

    • Logo ko bahir nikalna chaiye ihtjaj karien or road block karien gay tab hi kuch ho ga warna kuch ni honay wala

  14. Maa ka bhosra FBR walon ka Gashti k bacho ka na paani ha na gas na bijli ab ye maa chudai kar rhe mulk k sath behan k loray. itne paise leke apne maa ka andur karoge behan chodon na kam hai na koi kam karne laiq kam chora haii behan k loray apne maa k kus per tax laga k awam ko loot rhe behan chod k bache

  15. Bhaio bahir roads par niklo yaha cmnts likhnay ka koi faida nii road block karo yeh mulk road block krnay say hi chalta hai warna aisay cmnts ka koi faida nii

  16. Bhai bahir nikalty hyn road py pTA walo k khilaf dharna daity hyn mulak gir dharna koi date fix kro PTI walo ko btaty hyn ab.

  17. Behn chod dalla imran khan randi ka. In bhenchodo nay mulk chod diya hai. Zani harami kanjar, saray paisay khaa jaye ga, can’t even afford a phone. Panchod. Gashtooray, lanat beshumaar in haramzado par. Allah mian inhay cancer ho. Ameen suma Ameen

  18. In past i was fully suport imran but jo hal nzar araha ha is madarcho imran khan garibo ko sahi chootiya banya hai naukri de ga kya yeh tu pakistan k garib logo ko ujarna aya hai but woh din door nhi jab log nunga kr road pr ghumaey gay..

  19. Illiterate son of a bitch PTA and FBR authorities, they all are deployed on the seats by paying money for that so they don’t have any knowledge about mobile and how GSMA works globally, they even can’t distinguished between used mobile tax and bran new box pack , they are just giving opportunity to to those Chinese garbage Companies like oppo, vivo and others and many people are happy to buy those garbage phone just because they look beautiful in front camera … What rubbish.. PTA and FBR discouraging top class USA mobile devices to promote these Chinese garbage for Pakistan people as it happens always with us. For example in 22k range you will Snapdragon 430 or 460 in oppo or vivo but on the other hand used American kits like Motorola, HTC , LG or even Samsung , u will get Snapdragon 820 or 835 in same price range. So in short we are being pushing back to stonw age where ordinary men can onl6 afford to buy keypad phone. Sad but it is our reality. Worlds is going towards 5G but where are going back 2G. As a ordinary man can’t afford brand new advance mobile in 20k. Imported used American Mobile was given advance technology in fraction of price.

  20. Allah pak k wasta h imran khan abhi bh waqt h Pakistani awam ki hai budwa nhi lay khial ker bhai awam k pass itna paisa nhi h jitna to smjhta h plzzzz plzzzzz khuda k wastay Allah pak k wastay is zullm ko rook day log rozana tujhy dil say budwa dety hn aj nhi to kl lgnii to h

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