Govt proposes to make brand name mandatory for selling goods

KARACHI: The government has proposed to make brand name mandatory for the supply of goods to ensure the goods are manufactured by a registered company, sources in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said on Wednesday.

Officials at the Large Taxpayers Office (LTO), Karachi said an amendment has been made in the Sales Tax Act, 1990, through the Finance Bill, 2021, making it mandatory for the goods supplied in the market to get brand name. The goods other than the brand names would be treated as counterfeit, the sources added.

Tax experts at KPMG Taseer Hadi Chartered Accountants said the Finance Bill, 2021, proposed to insert Section 40E to the Sales Tax Act, 1990. It is proposed that the manufacturers of the specified goods would be required to obtain brand licence for each product or stock keeping unit (SKU) in such a manner that would be prescribed by the revenue board.

The tax experts said the bill also proposed that any specified brand and SKU found to be sold without obtaining a licence from the FBR would be deemed counterfeit and liable to outright confiscation and destruction.

“The destruction and confiscation shall be without prejudice to any other penal action, which may be taken under the Sales Tax Act, 1990,” they added.

The proposed amendment is against the government’s slogan of ease of doing business, the tax experts said, adding: “We understand that the proposed amendment is a revenue measure; however, we see it as only a hassle to the taxpayer.”

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