SC orders big firms to deposit 4pc supertax

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all the big companies to ensure they would deposit four percent super tax.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial, heard the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) appeals against the interim order passed by Lahore High Court (LHC) about the super tax. Last year, the government imposed a super tax on companies earning over Rs150 million. They included cement industries, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizers, textiles, automobile, tobacco, etc.

On the last hearing held on February 6, the apex court, while modifying the interim order of Lahore High Court, had allowed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to recover within a week 50 percent super tax imposed on big companies earning over Rs150 million. The taxpayers challenged the super tax imposition with retrospective effect for the tax year 2022 and onward before the LHC. The LHC stayed the recovery proceeding and directed the FBR to allow different industries to file their returns, excluding the super tax subject to the deposit of post-dated cheques of differential amount. The Federal Board of Revenue had filed appeals in the apex court against the LHC order of Sept 29, 2022. Through the Finance Act 2022, the government has imposed a super tax on high-earning persons by inserting a new section 4C in the income tax ordinance. Through the section, the FBR imposed a 10pc super tax on 13 sectors earning more than Rs150 million from the tax year 2022.