The Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) will increase Federal Excise Duty (FED) on certain items, including cement, as revenue generation measure for 2018-19. Sources told Business Recorder, here on Wednesday that Finance Bill 2018 is expected to raise the FED on cigarettes, cement and a few other excisable commodities from the next fiscal year 2018-19. The excisable commodities are expected to be used as raising revenue on the indirect taxes side.

In budget (2017-18), cement was subjected to federal excise duty @ Re1.00 per kilogram which was fixed at Rs 1.25 per kilogram. This existing rate of the Rs 1.25 per kilogram FED on cement may be further increased in coming budget.

Moreover, the incidence of the excise duty on cigarettes would also be raised in budget (2018-19). During the budget perpetration exercise, a meeting between the cigarettes manufactures and the FBR was also held here on Wednesday.

The budget makers considered a proposal to raise taxes on the import of edible oil, but the proposal has not been materialized, sources said. Another major revenue measure is to widen the gap of withholding tax between filers and non-filers in budget (2018-19) based on three principles, ie sector/areas paying less withholding tax, areas having enforcement issues and non-compliant sectors. The Finance Bill 2018 is expected to enhance rates of withholding tax on non-filers in the coming budget (2018-19). The non-filers are subjected to higher rates of withholding tax on different kinds of transactions. It has been proposed that the difference of withholding tax rates between the filers and non-filers would be further increased in the coming budget.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018