LAHORE: The flour milling ind­ustry has decided to normalise its operations after reaching an agreement with the federal government over the issue of withholding tax (WHT) mechanism, which had been announced in the federal budget.

During negotiations between the federal government and the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), the two sides agreed that Section 153-A of the Income Tax Act would not apply to flour mills and instead they would sell flour under a commission system, said PFMA chairman Asim Raza in a statement after a meeting with Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik on Monday.

He said the talks during a meeting, which was presided over Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema, remained successful after which the flour millers decided that the milling industry across the country would operate as usual.

During the negotiations the flour millers were represented by PFMA chairman and the heads of all four provincial chapters of the association.

Explaining details of the deal, the the PFMA chairman said that flour dealers and retailers would charge a commission per bag for selling flour supplied by the mills and the WHT under the Income Tax Act would be applicable only to the amount of the commission.

He said that wholesalers and ret­a­ilers whose annual sales were less than Rs100 million would be inc­luded in the withholding tax net in the coming year, and that tax ref­o­rms on the flour business would be app­­lied to the finance bill for the next year (2025-26) instead of 2024-25.

Flour millers had gone on strike at the onset of the holy month of Muharram against what they called a move to make them “WHT collection agents”. They postponed the strike on the Punjab government’s assurance that their meeting would be arranged with the federal government to resolve the issue after Ashura.

The millers argued that the flour dealers were not ready to share their computerised national identity cards and tax status (filer or non-filer) with the mills and thus effective collection of WHT was not possible.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024

Follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

Not cricket
06 Apr, 2025

Not cricket

IT is getting embarrassing for the Pakistan cricket team, and for the sport as a whole in the country — the lack ...
Balochistan deadlock
06 Apr, 2025

Balochistan deadlock

THE state’s efforts to stifle political activity in Balochistan are unlikely to improve the situation, and instead...
Escalating brutality
06 Apr, 2025

Escalating brutality

ISRAEL’S war against Gaza is not a campaign against Hamas — it is a war against a people. The latest ground...
Electricity relief
Updated 05 Apr, 2025

Electricity relief

If govt ensures that requisite power reforms are implemented, it will earn much praise for reforming a vital segment of the economy.
Trump’s trade wars
Updated 05 Apr, 2025

Trump’s trade wars

Shoddy math applied by US to indiscriminately penalise its trading partners signals the end of an era of global trade liberalisation.
Legalised land grab
Updated 05 Apr, 2025

Legalised land grab

The Modi government from its inception has been attacking India’s minorities, the largest such community in its crosshairs being the Muslims.