PTA Clarifies “No Import Taxes on Personal Mobile Phones From Overseas”

Some parts of the article already do take out of context, according to a statement made in response to a news story titled “PTA urges extension of mobile phone tax rebate for overseas Pakistanis” that appeared on several news sites.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is always meeting with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to set up a way for Pakistanis living abroad, foreign nationals, and other people to apply for temporary registration. Under the proposed plan, these candidates may spend up to 120 days in Pakistan each time they went there.

PTA said, Once the system is in place, Overseas Pakistanis and Foreign Nationals can become able to register one mobile device every time they visit Pakistan for 120 days without having to pay customs fees.

But if the device is so in use in Pakistan all the time, it has to pay FBR customs duties and taxes.

The PTA will no longer stop students from using smartphones they bring from abroad, someone said earlier this week. Media sites say that the PTA has also asked the FBR to get rid of import taxes on smartphones.

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But it said in the news that the PTA only lets people bring in one smartphone from abroad for their own use. For instance, if a store brings in or sells a lot of smartphones, they still need to pay the standard import duties that do need for PTA certification.