ISLAMABAD: The government has lowered the customs values for second-hand smartphones, which in turn has directly reduced the PTA taxes on various high-end models such as iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
As the PTA tax is calculated on the basis of customs value along with sales tax and mobile levies, this cut has made phone registration more economical for users.
The PTA tax has now been fixed at PKR 55,000 for both the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max when registered through a passport and at PKR 70,000 when registered through a CNIC, according to the new values.
This is a very significant cut in prices from the previous ones, and it has given a little relief to the consumers who were bearing the brunt of the high registration fee.
The decision has been made in such a way that both the buyers and sellers will get the advantage in the local mobile market. The decrease in the cost of legal phone registration at one stroke makes the prices of smartphones in Pakistan not so far off from the prices in the international markets.
Besides that, it persuades people to get their gadgets registered officially, rather than hiding them from the PTA or resorting to the grey market. The market analysts predict that this move will bring about transparency in the mobile phone sector, and the confusion over PTA taxes will also be reduced.
Offering clearer and fairer tax rates can be a way to build a relationship of trust with consumers and also to promote the legal use of imported devices. For the prospective registrant, the PTA Mobile Taxes Calculator is always there to give an approximate tax figure for different mobile models.
Nevertheless, it is suggested to the users that the final figures might not be the same, as there could be slight variations due to the official updates or changes made by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
