So only after a few months after the new government under the head of the state Prime Minister Imran Khan took charge it was announced that a specific taxes was to be imposed on those bringing in phones from abroad to in turn shut down the cartel of people who are smuggling phones in to the country and on top of that a DIRBS system was also introduced to combat all phones which had been smuggled in to the country as the system looks for the IMEI’s verfied by PTA and those phones which have not been registered and verified will cease to have mobile phones service in the country.
Moreover those who were bringing in phones in to the country had to pay a tax and the specific tax rate was determined by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). However thetax was deemed as almost unbelievable by the people and hence people are mad on the exclusive tax rates on devices. It should be noted that this system of taxation was introduced to discourage the mobile smuggling mafias, not to make the lives of the citizens harder. Now after collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority( PTA), FBR are taking steps to improve the overall system of taxation in order to stop the smuggling of phones.
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As noted above, PTA are in charge of the DIRBS system which has made it compulsory to register all the phones which have been imported from abroad.In order to improve the overall system FBR have decided to reduce the tax on imported phones by a percentage of 45%. Now international passengers who are bringing phones from abroad to Pakistan will have to pay lesser in taxes which shouldhelp set the mood for the better. This step taken by the agency can no doubt be seen to be cultivating for both sides as it will ease up putting any extra financial burden on the pocket of a common man and the board will also be able to reduce smuggling and to hence increase overall revenue.
It should be understood by us as well that both PTA and FBR are working very hard to eliminatesmuggling in the country and in addition to that to also to improve the economic performance of the country and let me tell you smuggling was not helping so it is a good step taken by the authorities. Moreover, FBR has also requested to the international passengers to register their phones through the procedure which has been set by PTA and have also warned all of the smuggling mafia that strict action will be taken against them.One of the main problems faced by travelers was the astonishing taxes on the phones which had to be paid to the FBR but, now with the reduction in taxes of up to 45% on imported phones, it will encourage international passengers to register their phones without any problems.
