As per the latest order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the service/maintenance charges on mobile top-up will be waived for pre-paid consumers.
On your next recharge, you will get Rs.88.89 net of taxes, instead of Rs.76.94, on a scratch card or top-up of Rs.100. The total amount of deduction has been decreased by over 51% (from Rs.23.06 to Rs.11.11). Spokesperson of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Khurram Mehran has also confirmed the order of the Supreme Court.
Last year in June, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar had suspended all taxes on mobile recharge while heading a two-member bench on various public complaints. The court had taken a suo motu notice on the said case and passed an interim decision of suspension. The court also ordered to set reasonable criteria to determine the percentage of withholding tax, excise duty and other charges on mobile recharge. During the hearing, Justice Ijazul Ahsan raised questions on the idea of imposing flat tax rates to everyone including the person who does not fall in the tax net.
Mobile consumers enjoyed tax-free mobile recharge since June 2018 till April 2019, when the Supreme Court restored all the imposed taxes back again. With the decision of suspending the taxes, the government had sustained an estimated loss of Rs.90 billion, consequently the federal and all provincial governments challenged the interim order of the court.
The latest order says,” The order dated 11th June 2018 did not record reasons nor did it determine that the imposition of the taxes was without jurisdiction. We are also not persuaded to hold that the taxes were imposed without requisite legislation or that the six statutes contravened the Constitution. However, the cellular telecom companies are not allowed to impose any service/maintenance charge thereon as they have elected not to impose these charges.”
