The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has made it mandatory for all banks to deduct 13 percent of provincial sales tax on advertisement services from October 1, 2023.
Senior government officials told ProPakistani that the sales tax would be charged on advertisement services for the transfer of payments through banks to any non-resident service providers like Facebook, Google, etc. The 13 percent provincial sales tax on advertisement services would be applicable on payments made through banks using any mode of transaction/transfer including credit card payments.
Someone privy to this matter told ProPakistani that banks in Pakistan have started charging 16 percent additional provisional sales tax on ad spending through credit cards (Facebook ads etc.). This is in addition to the 0.8 percent DCC Merchant Fee and 16 percent FED on DCC Merchant Fee.
“So, if you’re spending Rs. 100 on ads, you end up paying Rs. 116.93 in case of local payments. For cross-border payments, 4 percent forex charges and 5 percent AWT fees are also applied. If you’re a performance marketer, consider this cost while calculating your ROI/ROAS. From the brands’ perspective, they have to pay 9 percent WHT and 15 percent GST (ICT) over and above (a total of Rs. 146.57),” he explained.
He further said the Government of Pakistan has been unable to tax the big tech companies as they’re all operating from abroad (except ByteDance which accepts advertising payments in local accounts). Eventually, the local media buying agencies and freelancers are suffering from the heavy taxation imposed by the FBR.
Sources said that the SRB has declared all scheduled banks as collection agents for the deduction of sales tax on advertisement services. The banks have started charging and collecting sales tax from the recipients of said services, who are based in the province of Sindh.
