PRA to tax video streaming, social media platforms

The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has introduced its selection to impose taxes on all video streaming and social media structures running inside the province’s territory, beginning from July 1, 2023. Additionally, income tax will now be levied on all e-trade operators. The circulate comes as a part of the authority’s efforts to decorate its sales move and gain the target of Rs240 billion for the cutting-edge financial 12 months.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, PRA, Additional Commissioner HQ, Sara Hayat stated, “We are simply looking forward to the gazette notification earlier than we provoke the taxation of those offerings. All vital legislative paintings has already been finished.”

Under the new taxation regime, the authority will impose a 5% tax, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) acting as the collection agent. Hayat stated that, “According to the SBP, Pakistanis generated around Rs100 billion really worth of e-trade commercial enterprise in 2022. We expect to generate between Rs8 to Rs10 billion in sales thru this taxation.”In the previous fiscal 12 months, the PRA managed to generate Rs200.Four billion, an boom from Rs150.Five billion inside the economic year 2021-2022. Currently, the authority is taxing 70 offerings thru its Commissionerate places of work in eight towns. Hayat cited that the authority plans to establish district workplaces in fundamental cities of Punjab to similarly streamline its operations and extend its tax collection scope.

The PRA currently concluded discussions with the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and each events agreed to signal a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to tax real-property and allied sectors. This strategic step, once carried out, is predicted to significantly growth tax revenue for the PRA.

Currently, the authority generates revenue from 24 main sectors, with withholding retailers being the number one members. In the economic 12 months 2022-2023, withholding dealers generated Rs48 billion in comparison to Rs38 billion inside the previous monetary 12 months. The telecommunication services area contributed Rs38 billion, up from Rs31 billion, while the insurance quarter generated Rs25 billion, an boom from Rs19 billion.

Other sectors contributing to the revenue include courier offerings (Rs8 billion), franchise offerings (Rs7.3 billion), contractual execution of labor or components (Rs6.3 billion), restaurants and cafes (Rs5.Four billion), construction offerings (Rs4.Five billion), manpower and recruitment agents (Rs4.2 billion), inter-metropolis carriage of goods by means of rail or street (Rs3.5 billion), delivery of goods via pipelines or conduits (Rs3.Three billion), and services furnished by means of port operators (Rs3.2 billion).

The PRA also generated revenue from technical scientific and engineering experts (Rs2.Nine billion), security companies (Rs2.Nine billion), IT-enabled or IT-based totally offerings (Rs2.7 billion), lodges (Rs2.6 billion), commission retailers (Rs2.2 billion), mining of minerals and oil & fuel services (Rs1.6 billion), assets developers and promoters (Rs1.2 billion), and load services (Rs1.1 billion).

Additionally, commercial enterprise aid offerings and ride-hailing offerings contributed Rs0.Ninety five billion and Rs0.89 million, respectively. All different services collectively brought Rs24.6 billion to the PRA’s sales within the monetary 12 months 2022-2023, in comparison to Rs11.7 billion within the previous fiscal year.