Tax on incoming international phone calls is here to stay

Supreme Court nullifies Lahore High Court order against the tax.

LAHORE: Despite being challenged in court, the recently introduced tax on incoming international calls is back for now.

The Supreme Court on Thursday declared the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) stay order against the said tax null and void, Express News reported.

The Supreme Court said that the tax case should be heard by the Competition Commission of Pakistan, and should be resolved in 15 days.

On October 25, 2012, the LHC - in response to an application filed by a telecom company - issued orders against the tax and declared it unlawful.

Consumers and a few telecom companies objected to the tax, claiming it increased the overall cost and burdened international callers.

However, the LHC order was challenged in the Supreme Court's Lahore registry.

A two-member bench of the apex court heard the case and nullified the LHC order.

Tax

The Ministry of Information Technology decided to impose tax on incoming international calls in order to amplify revenue and maintain parity in call rates. According to sources, the government will generate another $500 million each month through the imposition of this tax.

The government has also argued that grey-trafficking, which incurs it Rs23 billion in losses annually, will be eliminated with the imposition of this tax.