The government intends to collect an additional PKR 40 billion (EUR 276.5 million) in annual tax revenue from the tobacco industry by raising excise duties and implementing a mandatory monitoring scheme for green leaf threshing units, The News International reported.

PKR 26 billion will be collected by raising excise duties on tobacco through the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill. PKR 14 billion will be raised through an amendment (SRO 1149(I)/2018) to Federal Excise Rules 2005 which will see the enforcing of strict industry monitoring to plug tax evasion loopholes, the newspaper said.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has granted Inland Revenue Officers new powers to monitor green leaf threshing units working independently or with cigarette manufacturers. Revenue officers will be posted to the premises of green leaf threshing units to monitor and report daily on receipts, processing, storage, the sale of unmanufactured tobacco, the transfer or “self-consumption” of tobacco and waste. Officers will also stamp and sign tax invoices issued by the units and the units will be charged with providing in-house accommodation and office space to the officers to carry out their work. A ban on sales to persons not registered on the Active Taxpayers’ List will also be put in place, the newspaper said.
“Yes, this amendment in rules will help us to curb tax evasion of cigarettes of all kinds of units,” Tanvir Malik of the Federal Board of Revenue’s DG Inland Revenue Enforcement Network told the newspaper.