Pakistan’s tax budget was revised recently, which resulted in increased income taxes, sales taxes, regulatory duties, and more. This caused a surge in prices for imported mobile phones.
Unfortunately, the increase in prices is quite significant as the new sales tax on smartphones costing above $200 is a staggering 17%. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has officially revealed the taxes you will have to pay for smartphones at different prices. The list includes smartphones of all price categories with entry-level phones all the way up to premium handsets like the Galaxy S21/iPhone 13 etc.
The fixed tax on smartphones priced between $201 – $350 has increased from Rs. 1,750 to a whopping Rs. 14,661. Handsets costing $351 to $500 will now be taxed Rs. 23,420 and phones going above $500 will tax you Rs. 37,000 and above. Here is the full list:
This applies to smartphones imported through your Passport ID. The taxes imposed on CNIC imports are even worse. Here is the list:
The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) has shared a screenshot of the new taxes as well, comparing the value of old taxes with the new ones.
If you are wondering why the taxes have increased so much, Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently explained it in an interview. He says that he wants to encourage local smartphone production in Pakistan and also wants to reduce billions of dollars of imports since it can damage PKR’s value. Check out the full interview below.
