The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has notified zero percent sales tax on the import of cotton from February 1, 2019 till June 30, 2019. The FBR has amended SRO 1125(I)/2011, through an SRO 110(1)/2019 issued here on Thursday. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had approved withdrawal of customs duty, additional customs duty and sales tax on import of cotton.

On a proposal of Textile Division, the ECC approved withdrawal of 3% customs duty, 2% additional customs duty and 5% sales tax on import of cotton to bridge the demand and supply gap and help the textile industry, especially the export segment.

Following is the text of the SRO 110(1)/2019 issued on Friday:- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), clause (b) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (6) of section 3 and clauses (c) and (d) of section 4 read with clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 8 and section 71 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 (VII of 1990), the Federal Government is pleased to direct that the following further amendments shall be made from the 1st day of February, 2019, till the 30th day of June, 2019, in its Notification No. SRO 1125(I)/2011, dated the 31st December, 2011, namely:-

In the aforesaid Notification,- (a) in Table-I, in the column (1), against S. No.2, in column (2), entry (h) shall be omitted; and

(b) after Table-II, in the conditions, in clause (ii), for sub-clause (a), the following shall be substituted, namely:-

"(a) in case of textile sector, for imports, raw and ginned cotton stages and onwards and for local supplies spinning stage onwards;".

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019