The Sindh Board of Revenue, as per a major step to reduce the government taxes over the IT services, has removed taxes over the broadband, DSL and other internet connectivity services. The Sindh Government also has went on to reduce the Government Sales Taxes (GST) over other telecom services.
The tax, in Sindh, which was previously being charged at 19.5%, has been reduced effectively to zero, if the charges remain below Rs. 1500 for an up to 2MB connection, and if the charges remain under a threshold of Rs. 2500 for a connection with broadband ranging from 2 MB to 4 MB. For the connections with a broadband connection greater than 4 MB, the GST of 19.5 % will still be applied.
As far as the cut on other telecom services are concerned, the Sindh government has reduced the GST from 19.5% to 19%. The Sindh government had announced to reduce the taxes to 18% a couple of years ago, a decision which wasn’t approved by the cabinet.
After the said take, Sindh has become the third province to cut the GST over internet services, following Punjab and Balochistan. The KP government, has now become the only province which still charges the GST over the internet services.
The moves to eradicate a hefty tax of 19.5 % especially over a product like internet, a service very widely used by the public, is indeed a courageous step. In the today’s era, the internet has become a necessity of every household. The IT has brought revolution to the traditional processes. The Internet is a product of current age which is widely used by all of us alike be it the students, employees, farmers, businessmen, and for that matter literally every being of the twenty-first century. The step is surely bound to bring ease to the lives of Sindhi people.
Source — ProPakistani
