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Mobile phone tax policy for foreign visitors in Pakistan

December 11, 2018

Today, the Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar has announced on this official Twitter account the “Mobile Phone Tax Policy” for foreign visitors. The decision comes after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) released the details on the import duty of mobile phones.

According to the details, the minister has clarified the policy in 3 consecutive tweets, he said people visiting Pakistan will only be allowed to register one mobile device, the registered device would be duty free.

However, you have to meet the following conditions to be qualified for duty free handset:

Mobile phones that use roaming network
The mobile phones will be used in Pakistan for less than a month
The mobile phones that have been used in Pakistan before December 31

In another tweet Mr. Azhar said the visitors can get their phones registered at the airportand pay duty charges at any custom houses across Pakistan. The mobile phoneswill not be detained during the process of registration and paying dues.

Duties and registration can be done at either the airports or in any of the Custom Houses across Pakistan. Phones are not detained during the process of registration or duty payments.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) December 11, 2018

Also, no registration/duty required on any phone that was activated or ever used in Pak before the 1st of December 2018.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) December 11, 2018

For benefit of people travelling into Pak from abroad, the mobile tax policy for you is:
1) One phone allowed to be registered as duty free 2) No Registration/Duty needed on any phone(s) using roaming 3) No Reg/Duty needed if phone(s) to be used in Pak for less than 30 days.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) December 11, 2018

The Federal Board of Revenue has chalked out new procedures to regularize the unregistered phones in Pakistan and strangle the mobile phone imports. The regulators has given the deadline of 31 December for illegal mobile phones to be registered and regularize via PTA without paying penalty. After the deadline, the regulators will blacklist all the mobile phones that are considered illegal after December 31 thesedevices will be blocked permanently by PTA’s DIRBS system.