ISLAMABAD: The provisions of the Finance Act 2016 will come into effect from June 25, a senior tax official said on Friday. The Act was signed by the acting President and Chairman of Senate Raza Rabbani as President Mamnoon Hussain is visiting Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

FBR official Dr Mohammad Iqbal said that exemption of sales tax from sugar has been withdrawn. Moreover, FED on sugar has also been abolished. Now sales tax on sugar would be charged at the reduced rate of 8pc.

Pesticides and their active ingredients have been granted exemption from sales tax. The rate of sales tax on agriculture tractors has been reduced to 5pc from 10pc. Urea fertiliser will now be chargeable to sales tax at 5pc instead of earlier 17pc. The rate of sales tax on Category B and C mobile phones has been increased from Rs500 and Rs1000 to Rs1,000 and Rs1,500, respectively.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2016