PUNJAB FINANCE ACT 2015

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THE PUNJAB FINANCE ACT 2015 
(XXIX of 2015) 
CONTENTS 
1. Short title, extent and commencement 
2. Amendment in Act II of 1899 
3. Amendment in Act VI of 2010 
4. Amendment in Act XV of 2011 
5. Amendments in Act XLII of 2012 
 
TEXT 
THE PUNJAB FINANCE ACT 2015  
(XXIX of 2015) 
[26th June, 2015] 
An 
Act 
to levy, alter and rationalize certain taxes, fees and duties in the Punjab. 
It is necessary in public inte rest to levy, alter and rationalize certain taxes, 
fees and duties in the Punjab; and, to deal with ancillary matters; 
Be it enacted by Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as follows: 
1. Short title, extent and commencement .– (1) This Act may be cited as the  
Punjab Finance Act 2015. 
(2)  It extends to whole of the Punjab. 
(3)  It shall come into force on the first day of July 2015. 
2. Amendment in Act II of 1899.– In the Stamp Act, 1899 (II of 1899), in section 
27-A, in subsection (1), for the expression “Art icles 23, 27 -A, 31 or 33”, the 
expression “Articles 23, 27-A, 31, 33 or 63” shall be substituted. 
3. Amendment in Act VI of 2010 .– In the Punjab Finance Act 2010 (VI of 
2010), in section 6, in subsection (5), in clause (a), the words “and the value of which 
exceeds one million rupees” shall be omitted. 
4. Amendment in Act XV of 2011 .– In the Punjab Finance Act 2011 (XV of 
2011), section 7 shall be omitted. 
5. Amendments in Act XLII of 2012 .– In the Punjab Sales Tax on Se rvices Act 
2012 (XLII of 2012): 
(1) in section 2: 
(a) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted: 
“(1) “Additional Commissioner” means a person appointed as 
Additional Commissioner of the Authority; 
(1A) “Appellate Tribunal” means the Appellate Tribunal 
established under the Punjab Re venue Authority Act 
2012 (XLIII of 2012);”; 
(b) after clause (26), the following clause (26A) shall be inserted: 
“(26A) “non-banking financial institution” includes a company 
licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of 
Pakistan to carry out any o ne or more of the following 
forms of business: 
(i) investment finance services; 
(ii) leasing; 
(iii) housing finance services; 
(iv) venture capital investment; 
(v) discounting services; 
(vi) investment advisory services; 
(vii) asset management services; and 
(viii) any other form of business which the Federal 
Government may, from time to time, by notification 
in the official Gazette specify;”; and 
(c) after clause 42, the following clause (42A) shall be inserted: 
“(42A) "taxpayer" means any person who, in the course o f an 
economic activity, provides taxable services for 
consideration;”; 
(2) in section 3, after subsection (5), the following subsection (6) shall be 
inserted: 
"(6) The services mentioned in the First Schedule are not 
exhaustive and all the services mention ed in the Second Schedule, 
rules and circulars shall be taxable services."; 
(3) in section 10, after subsection (4), the following subsection (5) shall be 
inserted: 
"(5) For purposes of subsection (4), the amount of tax entitled 
to be deducted shall not in clude any amount of additional tax, default 
surcharge, fine, penalty or fee imposed or charged under the Act."; 
(4) in section 32, in subsection (1), for the word “five”, the word "six" shall 
be substituted; 
(5) in section 33, in subsection (1), after the words "the records 
maintained", the words "or obtained" shall be inserted; 
(6) in section 34: 
(a)  for subsection (1), the following shall be substituted: 
“(1) The Authority may, by notification in the official 
Gazette, appoint a Chartered Accountant as de fined under 
Chartered Accountants Ordinance, 1961 (X of 1961) or a firm of 
Chartered Accountants or a Cost and Management Accountant 
within the meaning of the Cost and Management Accountants 
Act, 1966 (XIV of 1966),  or a firm of Cost and Management 
Accountants or a person or a firm having expertise in forensic 
audit, for conducting a special audit or forensic audit or both of 
the records of any registered person.”;  
(b) after subsection (3), the following subsection (3A) shall be 
inserted: 
"(3A) The Authority may require that such officers of the 
Authority as the Authority may nominate, shall be associated in 
the special audit or the forensic audit conducted under 
subsection (1) and the Authority may also get the special audit 
or the forensic audit conducted  jointly with similar audit of a 
registered person being conducted by FBR or any other 
provincial administrations of sales tax on services.";  
(7) in section 35, in subsection (6), for the words “A registered person 
may”,  the words "Subject to rules, a re gistered person may" shall be 
substituted; 
(8) in section 48, in subsection (2), in the TABLE: 
 (a) at S.No.1: 
(i) in column 3, for the words “shall be ten thousand rupees 
the words "for a company shall be one hundred thousand 
rupees and for a person, othe r than a company, shall be 
fifty thousand rupees” shall be substituted; and  
(ii) in column 4, for the figure "25", the expression "25 and 
27" shall be substituted; 
(b) for S.No.5, the following shall be substituted:  
S.No. Offences Penalties Section 
“5. Where a person, 
without any 
reasonable cause, 
fails to produce the 
record or 
information despite 
receipt of a notice 
from the Authority or 
any officer of the 
Authority directing 
him to produce such 
record or 
information. 
Such person shall 
pay a penalty of 
twenty five thousand 
rupees for the first 
default and fifty 
thousand rupees for 
each subsequent 
default. 
30, 32, 53 
and 57” 
(c) at S. No. 10, in column 4, for the existing entry, the expression 
"General and section 59" shall be substituted;  
(9) in section 57: 
(a) for subsection (2), the following shall be substituted: 
“(2) An officer conducting an audit, enquiry, 
investigation or otherwise for the purposes of the Act or the 
rules may require in writing any person to furnish any 
information as is held by the person.”; and 
(b) in subsection (3), after the words, "the Authority", the words "or 
an officer authorized by the Authority" shall be inserted; 
(10) after section 87, the following sections 88 and 89 shall be inserted: 
"88. Prize schemes to promote tax culture.– The Authority may, 
with the approval of the Government, prescribe prize schemes to 
encourage the general public to make purchases only from registered 
persons issuing tax invoices.  
89. Reward to whistleblowers. – (1) The Authority may, with the 
approval of the Government, sanction reward to a whistleblower. 
(2) The Authority may, by notification, prescribe the 
procedure in this behalf and also specify the apportionment of reward 
sanctioned under this section for a whistleblower. 
(3) The claim for reward by the whistleblower shall be 
rejected if– 
(a) the information provided is of no value; 
(b) the Authority already had the information; 
(c) the information was available in public records; or 
(d) no collection of tax is made from the information prov ided 
by a whistleblower. 
(4) Where, after providing an opportunity of being heard, it is 
found that a whistleblower has provided false, misleading or frivolous 
information, he shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred thousand 
rupees.  
(5) In this sectio n, „whistleblower‟ means a person who 
reports concealment or evasion of tax or tax fraud leading to detection 
or collection of the tax.”; 
(11) in Second Schedule: 
(a) in the TABLE, in the caption, in column 3, for the word 
"Classification", the expression "Classification, if applicable" 
shall be substituted;  
(b) at S.No.1: 
(i) in column 2, after the word “caterers”, the words 
“(including all ancillary or allied services such as floral or 
other decoration, furnishing of space whether or not 
involving rental  of equipment and accessories)” shall be 
inserted; and 
(ii) in column 3, for the word `and‟, a comma shall be 
substituted and after the figures "9862.0000", the 
expression "and respective headings” shall be inserted;  
(b) at S.No.2, in column 2, for paragr aph (b), the following shall be 
substituted: 
“(b) financed out of funds provided by a Government under an 
agreement of foreign grant-in-aid;”  
(c) at S.No.4, in column 2, after the word "including", the expression 
“express cargo or logistic services or" shall be inserted;  
(d) at S.No.13: 
(i) in column 2, after the words "intellectual property rights 
services", the words “and licensing services" shall be 
inserted; 
(ii) in column 3, for the existing entries, the following shall be 
substituted:  
"9823.0000, 9839.0000 and respective headings”;  
(e) at S.No.14, in column 2, under the caption "EXCLUDING:", for 
the existing entries, the following shall be substituted: 
"(i) Where the tax is otherwise paid by registered persons as 
property developers, builders or pr omoters for building 
construction; or 
(ii) Where the construction work is funded under an 
agreement of foreign grant -in-aid or involves construction 
of consular buildings; or 
(iii) Government civil works including those of Cantonment 
Boards; or 
(iv) Residential construction projects where the covered area 
does not exceed 10,000 square feet for a house and 
20,000 square feet for an apartment except where 
construction services are provided to construct more than 
one house or more than one apartment building." 
(f) at S.No.15, in column 2, for the existing entries, the following 
shall be substituted: 
“Services provided by property developers, builders and 
promoters (including their allied services) excluding actual 
purchase value or documented cost of land.”; 
(g) at S.No.18:  
(i) in column 2, for the existing entries, the following shall be 
substituted: 
“Services provided for personal care by beauty parlors, 
salons, clinics, sliming clinics, spas (including saunas, 
Turkish baths and Jacuzzi) and similar other 
establishments including cosmetic and plastic surgery 
and hair transplants. 
EXCLUDING: 
Services provided in a parlour, salon or clinic where the facility 
of air -conditioning is not installed or is not available in the 
premises on any day of the financial year.”; and  
(ii) in column 3, after the existing entries, the expression 
"and 9815.7000 and respective headings" shall be 
inserted;  
(h) at S.No.21, in column 4, for the figures "400", the figures "1000" 
shall be substituted; 
(i) at S.No.22: 
(i) in column 2, for the existing entry, the following shall be 
substituted: 
"Information technology -enabled or information 
technology based services including software 
development, software customization, software 
maintenance, system support, system assembly, system 
integration, system designing and architecture, system 
analysis, system development, system operation, system 
maintenance, system up-gradation and modification, data 
warehousing or management, data entry operations, data 
migration or transfer, system security o r protection, web 
designing, web development, web hosting, network 
designing, services relating to enterprise resource or 
management planning (including marketing of products), 
development and sale of smart phone applications or 
games, graphics designing, medical transcription, remote 
monitoring, telemedicine, insurance claim processing, 
online retrieval and database access or retrieval 
service."; and 
(ii) in column 3, after the figure "9815.6000", the words "and 
respective headings" shall be inserted; 
(j) at S.No.24: 
(i) in column 2: 
“Services provided by other consultants (by whatever 
name called or treated, whether as consultant or 
otherwise) including human resource and personnel 
development services, exhibition or convention services, 
event management s ervices (whole range and variety of 
their services regardless of separate or individual 
classification thereof), valuation services, evaluation 
services (including competency and eligibility testing 
services), certification, verification and equivalence 
services, market research services, marketing or sales 
services (including marketing agencies and on line 
marketing or sales services), surveyors services, training 
or coaching services (other than general education 
services) and credit rating services.”; and 
(ii) in column 3, after the existing entries, the expression ", 
9825.0000, 9819.5000, 9849.0000, 9818.9000, 
9853.0000, 9856.0000 and respective headings" shall be 
inserted; 
(k) at S.No.30:  
(i) in column 2, for the existing entries, the following shall b e 
substituted: 
“Services provided by a registrar to an issue, s hare 
transfer or depository services including services 
provided through manual or electronic book -entry system 
used to record and maintain securities and to register the 
transfer of shares, se curities and derivatives ( including 
investor account services, trustee or custodial services, 
share registrar services and their allied or connected 
services).”; and 
(ii) in column 3, for the existing entries, the following shall be 
substituted: 
"9819.9500, 9819.9090 and respective headings"; 
(l) at S.No.33:  
(i) in column 2, after the words "fashion designers", the 
words "including use of brand name, logo or house mark 
(whether or not registered) in the manufacturing or 
trading of products" shall be inserted; and 
(ii) in column 3, after the existing entries, the expression ", 
9839.0000 and respective headings" shall be inserted; 
(m) at S.No.34:  
(i) in column 2, after the words "town planners", the 
expression "landscapers, landscape designers" shall be 
inserted; and 
(ii) in column 3, after the figure "9814.9000", the expression 
", 9814.4000 and respective headings" shall be inserted; 
(n) at S.No.35:  
(i) in column 2, after the words "rent -a-car", the expression 
"(including renting of all categories of  vehic les meant for 
transportation of persons)" shall be inserted; and 
(ii) in column 3, for the existing entry, the expression 
"9819.3000 and respective headings" shall be inserted; 
(o) at S.No.42, in column 2, for the words "for patients", the words 
"exclusively for medical treatment purposes" shall be 
substituted; and 
(p) after S.No.46, in columns 1 to 4, the following entries shall be 
inserted: 
S. 
No. Description Classification, 
if Applicable Rate of Tax 
(1) (2) (3) (4) 
“47 Services in relation to 
transport of goods other 
than water, through 
pipeline, conduit or any 
Respective 
headings 
Sixteen percent 
other medium (other than 
inland carriage of goods 
by road otherwise taxable 
or chargeable to tax as 
such).    
48 Services provided by 
persons for inter -city 
carriage of goods by rail or 
road. 
EXCLUDING: 
Services provided by  an 
individual owner of a 
vehicle for carriage of 
goods. 
98.04, 
9804.2000, 
9804.9000 and 
respective 
headings 
Sixteen percent 
49 Visa processing services 
including advisory or 
consultancy ser vices for 
foreign education or for 
migration, visa application 
filing, services provided by 
document collection 
centres and subsequent 
assistance in visa 
processing (including all 
ancillary services).  
Respective 
headings 
Sixteen percent 
50 Services in re lation to 
supply of tangible goods 
including machinery, 
equipment and appliances 
for use, without 
transferring right of 
possession and effective 
control of such machinery, 
equipment and 
appliances. 
Respective 
headings 
  Sixteen percent 
51 Public relation services 
including communication 
services and services  
provided by public 
relations or media 
management businesses, 
communication 
specialists, media 
researchers, and services 
provided by opinion poll 
9819.9200 and 
respective 
headings 
 
Sixteen percent 
agencies. 
52 Services provided by 
accountants (including 
practicing chartered or 
cost accountants), 
auditors, actuaries, tax 
consultants (by whatever 
name called), practicing 
company secretaries, 
receivers, liquidators, 
auctioneers and corporate 
law consultan ts, whether 
individual or otherwise.  
9815.2000 
9815.3000 
9850.0000 
9851.0000 
9855.0000 and 
respective 
headings 
 
Sixteen percent 
53 Domestic transportation of 
goods by air (other than 
courier services otherwise 
taxable or chargeable to 
tax as such) 
Respective 
headings 
Sixteen percent 
54 Facilities for travel (by air): 
(a) services provided or 
rendered in respect of 
travel by air of passengers 
embarking from the 
Punjab for air travel or 
journey within the 
territorial jurisdiction of 
Pakistan: 
    (i) long routes 
 
 
    (ii) short routes 
 
Explanation.- For the 
purpose of this entry, 
“long routes” means 
journeys exceeding 500 
kilometres, and “short 
routes” means the 
remaining journeys. 
 
(b) Services provided or 
rendered in respect of 
travel by air of passengers 
9803.1000 
9803.1100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rs.2500 per ticket 
 
Rs.1500 per ticket 
 
Rs.5000 per ticket 
 
Rs.10,000 per 
ticket 
 
embarking from the 
Punjab for international air 
travel or journey: 
(i) economy and 
economy plus 
(ii) club, business and 
first class. 
EXCLUDING: 
Air travel services 
provided to Hajj or Umrah 
passengers, diplomats 
and supernumerary crew. 
55 Chartered flight services 
within or originating from 
the Punjab. 
9803.1000 
9803.9000 
Sixteen percent 
56 Debt collection and similar 
other recovery services. 
9863.0000 Sixteen percent 
57 Supply chain management 
or distribution (including 
delivery) services. 
Respective 
headings  
Sixteen percent 
58 Services provided by 
photography studios and 
event or occasion 
photographers/film-
makers 
EXCLUDING: 
Non-corporate (individual)  
photographers operating 
from small road -side 
shops declared as such by 
the Authority.   
9819.7000 and 
respective 
headings 
 
Sixteen percent 
59 Sponsorship services. 9805.9100 Sixteen percent" 
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