Federal Budget 2019-20: Minimum taxable income revised for salaried, non-salaried people

ISLAMABAD: The minimum taxable income was reviewed and set at Rs0.6 million and Rs0.4 million per annum for the salaried and non-salaried persons, respectively, State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar announced while presenting the Federal Budget 2019-20.

In this regard, 11 taxable slabs at progressive tax rates from 5 per cent to 35 per cent were introduced in Federal Budget 2019-20 for salaried people with income of more than Rs0.6 million per annum.

Further, eight taxable slabs at tax rates from 5 per cent to 35 per cent were introduced in Federal Budget 2019-20 for non-salaried people with an income of more than Rs0.4 million per annum.

Azhar explained that the Finance Act 2018 had earlier significantly relaxed the minimum taxable income for both the salaried and non-salaried classes — revising it upwards from Rs0.4 million to Rs1.2 million. This, he said, had led to a major decrease in the receivables by Rs80 billion.

It is noteworthy that the minimum taxable income is usually based on the per capita income and examples of such leniency are not common, he noted.

Separately, non-filers were no more restricted from purchasing property and can buy estate of over Rs5 million, he mentioned.

Corporate tax fixed at 29 per cent for two years

The corporate tax has now been fixed at 29 per cent for two years, the minister announced.

This has been done in light of the country's current economic conditions as well as success in bringing it down from 35 per cent to 29 per cent over the period from fiscal year 2014 through 2018, he said.

Azhar went on to say that prior to the Finance Act 2014, the corporate tax rate was 35 per cent. This, however, was brought down each year by one per cent, bringing it effectively to 30 per cent.

In accordance with the prior proposal, it was to be decreased from 30 per cent in 2018 to 25 per cent in 2023.