Govt Imposes Taxes on IT Export Proceeds

The government has imposed a 0.25 percent tax on the export proceeds of computer software or IT services through Finance Bill, 2022. According to particulars outlined in the bill, the export proceeds of computer science software or IT services or IT Enabled services by persons registered with the Pakistan Software Export Board will be taxed at a flat rate of 0.25 percent in the fiscal year 2022-23. However, any other IT-related exports will be taxed at a flat rate of 1 percent. While the government is aiming to raise revenue by implementing additional taxes in various sectors, the new tax could make things difficult for freelancers and individuals and eventually impact the growth of the IT sector. It is pertinent to mention here that IT and IT services exports surged to $1.948 billion at a growth rate of 29.26 percent during July-March financial year 2021-22, in comparison to $1.5 billion in the same period last year, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22 released on Thursday.