Briefs

FBR may extend statement filing date

By our correspondent

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) may extend the due date to file monthly sales tax and federal excise statement, keeping in view Eid holidays. The filing of statement for the month of August is due on September 10 for providing sales data, September 15 for payment and September 18 to file the statement. An official of the FBR said that a notification will be issued later this week. The federal government has announced Eid holidays from September 12 to 14. Rehan Jafri, president of the Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA), said that due to Eid holidays and performing of Haj, many taxpayers would not be able to comply.

TDAP to hold exhibition in Sri Lanka

By our correspondent

KARACHI: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) on Tuesday announced the single country exhibition in Colombo, Sri Lanka, early next year. A TDAP statement said the single country exhibition would be held at the BMICH Exhibition Centre from January 13 to 15, 2017. This would be the second exhibition, after the success of the first one organised in January 2016.

Many companies have received orders from Sri Lankan buyers, and the furniture, engineering and pharmaceutical sectors were still negotiating deals. General Fan Company (GFC) sent its first consignment to Sri Lanka after successful deals which were materialised as a result of the January 2016 exhibition.

Pharmaceutical companies have started the process of registering with Sri Lankan authorities, as the TDAP had introduced their quality products during the exhibition.

The Single Country Exhibition for 2017 was being organised under the patronage and support of the government of Sri Lanka. Major components of the exhibition would be introducing and displaying quality products and business to business meetings.

Computing, data meant to be together

KARACHI: The rapid growth in smart and connected devices, digital services, and cloud applications is resulting in an explosion of data, a statement said on Tuesday.

This is bringing new experiences to all facets of our lives, from smart cities to autonomous vehicles, precision medicine, immersive gaming and more.

At the same time, Moore’s Law is driving even greater computing capability that can be used both in the cloud and in devices to make use of that data. Using analytics to gain actionable and timely insights is allowing for new discoveries and improved services in areas like genome sequencing, predictive factory maintenance and retail fraud detection.

This combination of data growth and increased computing capability is a fantastic opportunity to transform both device and cloud computing, which in turn creates a virtuous cycle of growth. However, a key challenge lies in getting data much closer to the central processing unit (CPU).

Lucky Cement honoured

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Lucky Cement Limited has received the annual Environment Excellence Award 2016, a statement said on Tuesday.

The National Forum for Environment and Health presented the award at a conference titled "Making our cities sustainable".

Such awards bring recognition and promote organisations, making an outstanding contribution to sustainable development and economic growth of the country, at large, and are working explicitly in order to achieve economic and social development in Pakistan without damaging the environment and its natural resources.

"Conserving the environment is Lucky Cement’s utmost priority, and it is because of our commitment to the environment that we have made significant contributions in making our operations green and environment friendly," said Amin Ganny, chief operating officer of Lucky Cement.

Property valuation awareness sought

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Property registrations are still suspended throughout the country as the government has yet to issue new valuation and taxation procedures to the registrars, an industry leader said on Tuesday.

Arif Yousuf Jeewa, acting chairman of the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) said the government should issue clear instructions property valuation, final tax regime, capital gains tax, advance income tax and tax adjustment to the concerned registration officers for the resumption of the registration process.

“Due to confusion regarding taxes on property in absence of clear instructions, registration and transfer of properties and sale deeds have almost stopped as only 20 percent transactions are being carried out by the concerned registration officers,” Jeewa told newsmen.

“Government is losing taxes amounting to billions of rupees due to non-transfer of properties,” he said.

He said the government should take immediate step to educate registration officers about the new property valuation and tax structure, “so that builders and developers could start their construction projects, which were stopped due to non-registration.” 

LPG association slams price hike

ISLAMABAD: Liquefied Petroleum Gas Distributors Association Pakistan (LPGDAP) Chairman Irfan Khokhar on Tuesday urged the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to take notice of Rs15 per kilogram increase in LPG prices by the marketing companies without the authority’s notification.

Describing the increase unjustified, he said the LPG marketing companies had started selling locally-produced commodity as per the international rates, indulging in profiteering.

Last week, the chairman had said that the international market witnessed $20 per metric ton increase bringing the LPG price to $308 from $288 per metric ton.

But the marketing companies have increased the price by Rs5/kg for local LPG. It is the third time raise in just a period of five days, he said.  Ogra must take action against the LPG mafia, otherwise the association will start countrywide protests, he warned, while talking to APP. 

PayPal, MasterCard reach deal

NEW YORK: MasterCard Inc said it signed a deal with PayPal Holdings Inc that will allow customers to use PayPal´s payment services in stores.

PayPal´s partnership with MasterCard follows a similar deal with Visa Inc in July as the company looks to expand its payments network.  The partnership with MasterCard was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

PayPal will allow users to select a credit or debit card as the default payment method and share data on transactions made through MasterCard´s tap-and-pay feature, according to the Journal.  PayPal, which spun off from e-commerce company eBay Inc last year, has focused on aggressive growth.

GE unveils $761mln bid for SLM

FRANKFURT: General Electric´s German business announced plans on Tuesday for a takeover offer for Germany´s SLM Solutions and has already signed deals to buy almost a third of shares from existing shareholders.

GE Germany Holdings AG said on Tuesday it would offer 38 euros per share to buy SLM Solutions, which values the company at 683 million euros ($761 million)It has signed a business combination agreement with SLM Solutions and has agreed to buy 31.5 percent of shares from major shareholders