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In a recent meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecom, an official of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has told that the government has been successful to collect revenue of Rs. 23 crore 50 lacs as part of the taxes imposed on imported mobile phones starting from 15th of January earlier this year.
The meeting was attended by key representatives of PTA, FBR, and senators including Senator Rubina Khalid and Senator Ateeq Sheikh. While discussing the issues faced in the registration of mobile phones, Chairman PTA Maj. Gen. (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa exclaimed that many people are not registering their phones due to the fear that they will have to pay a hefty amount of taxes.
Check out the new taxes imposed on phones as per FBR here.
Meanwhile, due to the recent course of events where a feature phone was charged Rs. 45,000 as customs duty due to a fake IMEI, people fear that FBR could also impose heavy duties on them if they register their mobile phone.
Fake registrations on the black market can endanger your smartphones as both FIA and PTA are on the hunt of people who are misusing the DIRBS. Another measure taken to stop the excessive and illegal import of smartphones was by removing the baggage rule, which according to FBR was being misused by the masses. Chairman PTA has said the authorities have registered/approved around 1.2 million mobile phones while around 8.8 million handsets in Pakistan are still non-compliant.
Senator Rubina Khalid remarked that PTA blocked phones are being unblocked in the black market for Rs. 1,000 to 1,500. Senator Ateeq Sheikh also contributed to this by saying that one of his friends was able to unblock his smartphone from the market for Rs. 3,000. Chairman PTA informed the Standing Committee that PTA was capable of tracking anyone who leaks the data from DIRBS with 100% accuracy. So far, PTA has reported 45,000 cases to the FIA for action.
