ISLAMABAD:Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced several big incentives for the Information Technology (IT) sector, IT services and Freelancers in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 on Friday. Dar said in his budget speech in the National Assembly that IT and IT services are the fastest-growing sectors of the economy and Pakistan ranks second in the world in terms of freelancers doing their own business.
He announced several steps to boost up the IT sector and the freelancers including the concessional rate of income tax of 0.25 per cent will be continued till June 30, 2026. Dar said freelancers are exempted from sales tax registration and filing their returns on exports up to $24,000 per year and a simple income tax return is being issued for them. IT service providers will be allowed to import software and hardware worth one per cent of their exports tax-free and the limit of these imports has been set at $50,000 per year.
The finance minister said issuance of automated exemption certificates will be ensured for IT services and exporters and the IT sector is being given the status of SMEs which will benefit the sector in income tax rates. He said that the current rate of sales tax on IT services within the limits of Islamabad is being reduced from 15% to 5% while banks will get the benefit of a concessional tax of 20 per cent for disbursing loans in the IT sector. He also announced that 50,000 IT graduates will be given technical training in the next financial year.