Non-filers to pay additional tax on electricity, gas bills

• FBR slaps additional tax of up to 17% on unregistered industrial and commercial electricity and gas consumers.
• An additional tax of 5% will be imposed on consumers with a monthly bill of around Rs10,000.
• 17% tax will be levied on consumers whose monthly bill is above Rs50,000.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) slapped an additional tax of up to 17% on unregistered industrial and commercial electricity and gas consumers.

In a notification released by the Ministry of Finance on Friday, the Revenue Division said: "In exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (5) of section 3 of the Sale Tax Act, 1990, and in supersession of its notification no SRO 509(1)/2013, dated June 12, 2013, the federal government is pleased to levy tax, on the total billed amount excluding the amount of federal taxes, in addition to the tax payable under sub-section (l) of section 3 of the said Act, on supplies of electric power and natural gas to persons having industrial or commercial connections."

However, the board clarified that the additional taxes will be collected from people "who have either not obtained sales tax registration number or are not on the active taxpayers' list maintained by the FBR."

Non-filers will be charged 5% to 17% additional tax on commercial consumer bills. An additional tax of 5% will be imposed on consumers with a monthly bill of around Rs10,000, 7% additional tax will be levied on consumers with a monthly bill of Rs10,000-20,000, while 10% tax will be imposed on no-filers with a monthly bill of Rs20,000 to Rs30,000.

The notification added that the revenue board will collect 12% additional tax from consumers whose monthly bill is within a range of Rs30,000-40,000 per month, 15% additional tax will be levied on monthly bills of Rs40,000-50,000 and 17% from consumers whose monthly bill is above Rs50,000.