Income tax exemption limit retained at Rs600,000
Business
Currently, the upper limit for non-taxable annual earnings is Rs600,000
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The federal government retained the minimum taxable amount at Rs600,000 in annual earnings as Finance Minister Aurangzeb presented the finance bill in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Earlier, it has been reported that federal government may raise the minimum taxable amount to Rs900,000.
Although Pakistan’s annual inflation has been on a constant decline since January this year as the consumer price index (CPI) for May dipped to a 30-month low of 11.8pc, the target population will certainly welcome the move, if materialised, though at least some of them may call it insufficient.
Initially, the 2024-25 budget was to be tabled in the National Assembly on June 8, but the plan was postponed due to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s five-day visit to China.
Read more: CPEC: Beijing promises Chinese investment in SEZs, mining
Meanwhile, the delay also means that the budget is being presented after the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) slashed the interest rates by 1.5pc to 20.5pc from a record high 22pc level.
The government increased 25pc hike in salaries of government servants falling in BPS-1 to BPS-16, while 22pc pay hiked for all – from BPS-1 to BPS-22 – a move that increased the government pay bill by Rs80 billion in 2024-25.
