“Luxury goods sales tax increased to 25%”

The Pakistani government has increased the sales tax on 33 categories of goods, covering 860 tariff lines, including high-end mobile phones, imported food, decoration items, and other luxury goods, from 17% to 25%. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued SRO297 of 2023 on Wednesday night to implement the last part of the Rs170 billion tax revenue measures to secure the IMF tranche. The luxury items that will be subject to the high sales tax include confectionery, jams and jelly, fish and frozen fish, sauces, ketchup, fruits and dry fruits, preserved fruits, cornflakes, frozen meat, juices, pasta, aerated water, ice cream, and chocolates. The government had already notified the tax measures in two phases on Feb 14 and March 1. The finance minister introduced tax measures through the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 last month to raise an additional Rs170bn in the next four and a half months to meet the last prior actions agreed upon with the IMF to secure early disbursement of about $1.2bn instalment.