The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has clarified in its press release issued on January 17, 2020 that with reference to taxes applied on the recharge/reload of prepaid balance, it is stated that Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) are deducting only Withholding tax & General Sales Tax/Federal Excise Duty on pre-paid recharge/reload after the restoration of taxes by the honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan from April 2019.
On the recharge of Rs 100, balance provided to the user is Rs 88.889 (and not Rs 76 as reported on the social media) after deduction of Rs 11.111 against withholding tax @ 12.5%.
GST @19.5% is applied on per call, SMS, and data usage basis. When a user consumes its remaining balance of Rs 88.889, a total of Rs 14.505 as GST is charged. Due to lack of clarity on the deduction of GST in addition to WHT, mobile subscribers are assuming that CMOs are charging well above applicable taxes, which is not correct.
Furthermore, the PTA has fixed a ceiling on call setup charges @ Rs 0.15 per call. The PTA is vigilant about the rates/tariffs being charged by CMOs and action will be initiated on any reported incidence of charging above the published tariffs and applicable taxes in accordance with the law.
