ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the large-scale manufacturing industries to pay a 4 per cent super tax.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Athar Minallah heard the federal government and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) appeals regarding the recovery of super tax.

It should be noted that various industries had challenged the super tax levied in budget 2022-23 with retrospective effect after which the Sindh High Court invalidated the collection of the 10pc super tax from the last fiscal year.

Last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif anno­unced a 10pc tax on major industries including cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilisers, LNG terminals, textiles, banking, automobiles, chemicals, beverages and cigarettes.

Through the Finance Act 2022, the government introduced a new section C-4 in the Income Tax Ordinance to impose a super tax on high-income earners. Through this section, the FBR imposed a 10pc super tax on 13 sectors earning more than Rs150 million with restrospective effect from July 1, 2021.

The decision had since been challenged on various grounds in almost all the high courts of the country. Similarly, more than 100 petitions were filed in the Sindh High Court challenging the constitutionality of the provisions of the Finance Act 2022. The petitions stated that the federal government had also imposed a tax on past transactions in the Finance Act 2022.

On Dec 22, 2022, the Sindh High Court declared the tax implementation invalid from the previous fiscal year and stated that the tax would be applicable from the current fiscal year.

However, the federal government and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court.

While ruling on the above appeals, the Supreme Court ordered the payment of 4pc super tax to all the parties.

Earlier on Feb 6, the Supreme Court modified the interim order of the Lahore High Court and directed taxpayers with higher income to remit 50pc of their super tax directly to the FBR within a week.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2023