ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said overseas Pakistanis will have to pay duty if they bring more than one mobile phone to the country.
Responding to a tweet questioning the government’s decision to ban overseas Pakistanis from carrying cellphones to the country, Chaudhry clarified, “Overseas Pakistanis can bring mobile phones to the country. Tax will only be imposed on additional mobile phone sets.”
“We are importing mobile phones worth $2 billion. If we do not impose taxes on this then how will we run?”
The information minister added, “The tax on phones worth less than $60 is almost negligible and on expensive phones there’s a 38% duty. This is the most appropriate taxation. We will have to adopt the tax culture.”
Earlier, Minister of State for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar stated that overseas Pakistanis can carry only one phone in a year without having to pay customs duty. Further, Azhar had said that overseas Pakistanis can bring a maximum of five phones as per personal baggage rules, however, they will have to pay duty on the four extra handsets.