Govt to charge WHT on Electricity bill above Rs 25,000: FBR document
2 min readKARACHI: The Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented budget 2021-22 in National Assembly on Friday and announced removal of withholding tax on different things including banking transaction and cash withdrawals etc.
On the other side, silent features of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said, “Reduction in threshold of monthly electricity bill for withholding tax on electricity consumption from 75,000 to 25,000 from domestic users not appearing on Active Taxpayers’ list.”
It means the government will now charge Withholding Tax (WHT) on Electricity Bill above Rs 25,000 if the consumer is not appearing on Active Taxpayers’ list.
All the consumer of electricity in Pakistan are already paying 17% General Sales tax, Electricity Duty and now they will have to pay WHT on their Electricity Bill from July 1, 2021.
The analyst said, “very few people are registered with the active tax payer list of the FBR.” The FBR documents did not mention how much the government will charge WHT on Electricity bills, but it would be implemented after this budget.
At one side the government of Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) said that it has turned down the demand of International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enhance the Electricity tariff in Pakistan, but on the other side it imposed WHT on power consumers.
The consumers, who have a single story house having an air-conditioner or have Load of above 5KW, received above Rs 25,000 electricity bill in summer. If he is not listed in tax-payer’s list of FBR so he would be charged WHT on the consumption of power.