Eleventh hour: Ordinance imposes 15% tax surcharge

The surcharge applies only to income earned in fiscal year ending June 30, 2011.

ISLAMABAD:

Three days before the federal government is due to lay out its budget for the fiscal year 2011, the government has added a 15% surcharge on income taxes for the outgoing year, payable for the month of June.

Under a presidential ordinance approved in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the government announced that it would levy a 15% surcharge on 2011 income taxes. This surcharge applies to the amount paid in taxes, not the income itself.

For example, if a person owed Rs5,000 in taxes on an income of Rs50,000, they will now owe Rs6,500.

The surcharge applies only to income earned in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011 and will not apply to taxes being paid on previous years’ incomes or even advance taxation for next years’ incomes.

The ordinance will apply only for the month of June 2011.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2011.