KP Govt grants relief in property, trade and professional taxes

PESHAWAR, Jun 19 (APP):provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa instead of imposing new tax in the budget for financial year 2020-21 has given special relief in property, trade and professional taxes,the decision has been taken on impact of corona on businesses.
This has been announced in the Finance Bill for the fiscal year 2020-21 that was presented in the provincial assembly on Friday.
According to the bill the that defaulters of the property tax in case of the payment of their arrears in 12 installments till June 2021 will be given 25% concession while those paying the arrears in single installment till June 30, 2021 will be given 30% relief respectively.
However, those who failed in taking benefit of the offer before June 30, 2021 will be liable for the recovery of both their arrears and fine and the defaulters will be able to transfer their property till the clearance of all outstandings.
Similarly, according to the bill the Motor Vehicles Registration Act would also be amended to abolish the conditionality of the no objection certificate (NoC) for the registration of those already registered in Punjab. However, in case of failure in the registration within a period of one year, the owner of the vehicle will have to pay registration fee.
The bill says that after reforms, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has improved its performance and its revenue collection has been increased from Rs.10 billion to Rs.17 billion. Despite, corona situation, the total receipts of the province have been reached to Rs.36 billion that 20% higher than last financial year and if there was no outbreak of corona, the authority would have achieved the target of Rs.45 billion.
The Finance Bill said that the budget is totally tax free and in which neither any new tax or rate of any tax has been increased.
Under the Bill, the Local Government department has also abolished taxes on about 200 SMEs while the Excise and Taxation Department has also exempted small businesses of taxes. Similarly, all hotels and more than 18 professionals have also been exempted of taxes and professional taxes. However, such professionals are required to register their businesses with KPRA.
Furthermore, no new tax is imposed on all health sectors professionals while for enhancement of motor vehicles registration in the province, registration has been exempted of fee and the conditionality of the NoC from other provinces has also been waived off.
Similarly, location factor on property tax on immovable properties in urban areas has been decreased and those paying taxes on time can get 35% additional concession. The ratio of sales tax on services has been slashed on 27 categories while tax ratio for those restaurants that will install ‘Point of Sale Software’ has also slashed from 8% to 5%.
The ratio of tax on human resource, business support and restaurants’ sectors has been slashed from 8% to 5%, 15% to 5% and 15% to 8% respectively while tax on laboratory services has also been decreased from 15 % to 5%, airport tax from 15% to 10%, beauty parlour tax from 8% to 5%, medium size laundry from *% to 2%, capital goods dealer ship tax from 15% to 2% and tax on rented goods from 13% to 2%, tax on railway cargo from 15% to 2% respectively.