ISLAMABAD (Mudassir Ali Rana) – The government on Friday decided to establish new checkpoints to prevent sales tax and excise duty evasion.
According to sources, a tax checkpoint will be set up at Kohala Bridge for entry from Muzaffarabad to Murree and Abbottabad, aimed at stopping sales tax and FED evasion in cigarette manufacturing.
Additional checkpoints will be established in Azad Jammu & Kashmir to curb the smuggling of illegal cigarettes into Pakistan. A checkpoint is planned on Mangla Dam Road for entry from Mirpur into Pakistan.
Sources revealed that illegal cigarette production results in annual tax evasion of Rs300 billion, while Rs40 billion worth of cigarettes are produced each year by evading FED and sales tax.
It has also been disclosed that the checkpoint plan to curb tax evasion in cigarette manufacturing has been shared with the IMF.