The PML-N government provided relief of Rs 92 billion to individuals and salaried class in the last budget for the current fiscal year. The PTI-led government introduced Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (approved in October) to revise the tax slabs for this category of taxpayers that would be applicable retrospectively from July 1, 2018.
Instead of recovering the entire amount of tax relief provided under the Finance Act 2018 (July to September 2018) in one month, the Federal Board of Revenue is considering allowing the relief to be staggered over the remaining nine months of the current fiscal year, sources said. Under the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the government introduced seven tax slabs for salaried individuals and eight tax slabs for non-salaried individuals.
The government's move for implementation of revised tax slabs for individuals with retrospective effect of July 2018 was opposed by the Senate Standing Committee of Finance with a majority with the warning that such an effort may invite litigation. The committee recommended that the revised tax slabs for individuals be implemented from the next day of assent given to the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018 by the President. Opposition members Haroon Akhtar and Musaddiq Malik while opposing the move suggested implementation of the revised slabs from the day after the assent by the President.