The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has exempted import of sugar from withholding tax. The Income Tax Department has issued the notification after a delay of one week, which created confusion among the business community whether sugar is exempted from withholding tax under the decision of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet or not. The CBR has issued SRO. 174(I)/2005 here on Friday. According to the notification, the provisions of Section 148 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 would not apply to the imported sugar under the decision of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.

Following is the text of the notification issued on Friday: "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 53 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 (XLIX of 2001), the Federal Government is pleased to direct that following further amendment shall be made in the Second Schedule to the said Ordinance, namely:-

"In the aforesaid Schedule, in Part-IV, after clause (53), the following new clause shall be added, namely:-

"(54) The provisions of section 148 shall not apply to sugar imported in pursuance of Economic Co-ordination Committee of the Cabinet's decision NO. ECC 16/2/2005 dated 08-02-2005."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005