Equipment donated by international bodies

KARACHI: Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) chief SM Sibtain has appealed to finance minister Asad Umar to bring down to zero sales tax and customs duty and waive WHT on the equipment which is gifted to federations by international bodies.“Besides footballs, hockey sticks and cricket balls and bats, we don’t produce any internationally-approved sports equipment in this age of high-tech sports,” Sibtain wrote in a letter to Asad on December 26.He said that on the one hand Pakistanis expected their athletes to create ripples in the international circuit but on the other Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and national federations have to pay 20-25 percent customs duty, 17 percent sales tax, 30 percent regulatory duty, 2 percent additional customs duty and 9 percent income tax on gifts or donations of sports goods.“These goods are donated by International Olympic Committee (IOC) or international sports bodies recognised by IOC or sponsored by recognised sports good manufacturers for specific sports events,” he said.“We earnestly appeal to honourable minister to propose to the cabinet to approve following changes in Pakistan’s customs tariff, sales tax and income tax schedules through an ordinance to address this gross anomaly,” Sibtain wrote.He said this step would enable the federations to avail themselves of the assistance of their parent bodies.He said that customs duty and sales tax should be zero and WHT should be waived on import of internationally-approved equipment.He explained that the equipment is either received by federations from IOC or their respective continental and international sports federations (ISFs) or received by POA in sponsorship from approved equipment manufacturers for specific national and international events hosted in Pakistan. “Each import is adding to our scarce resources without any cost to the nation,” he wrote.

from The News International - Sports http://bit.ly/2StcC2F