Dispute between SSGC, SNGPL denied

In reference to a news item published on April 27 titled ‘Row between state-owned gas companies intensifies’, it is clarified that there is no dispute between SSGC and SNGPL, rather this is a matter of tax anomaly. It was addressed by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) through its decision dated April 17, 2018 on a summary moved by the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), which provided that effective from July 2015, no withholding income tax would be applicable to the payment collected from SNGPL and paid to Engro Elengy Terminal (Private) Limited on account of RLNG re-gasification. However, the amendments made to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 through the Finance Act 2018 did not mention the effective date. Thus, in the absence of an effective date, the amendments became effective from July 2018 (instead of the ECC-approved effective date of July 2015). Accordingly, SSGC has requested the federal government to address this anomaly by making it effective from July 2015. 


Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2019.