New taxes on GPU imports have been imposed by the Government of Pakistan. Anyone who is officially importing Graphic Cards in Pakistan has been hit by this decision. Moreover, the government claims that Gaming Cards are being valued at lower values. Therefore, resulting in the evasion of a huge amount of taxation.
Basis Of Tax Valuation
The taxes and duties on the Graphic Cards will be calculated according to the details and specifications of the card. This means lower-specced GPUs will be accounted for a lower amount of taxes in comparison with higher-end ones. Nevertheless, taxes will be quite high due to the high USD valuation of the Graphic Cards.
Recent Developments
Previously, there was no valuation ruling or assessment system for Graphic Cards by the Pakistan Customs Authority. However, recent reports claim that Pakistan Customs has taken up to 700 RTX GPUs in their custody. Furthermore, these products have been locked up in their Warehouse for more than 60 days. The authorities are also imposing charges on some distributors. The amount of this fine is said to be more than PKR 4 million.
Method For Tax Calculation
For tax calculation on a specific Graphic Card, the authorities have developed the following formula. Assessed Value USD x Current Dollar Rate = 36% of the total calculated result.
For instance, for an RTX-3080 that has a value of $262, the following will be the tax. $262 x 215 = 56,330 PKR of which the 36% is 20,278. Resultantly, you will have to pay PKR 20K accounted for duties on importing the 10GB VRAM RTX-3080. Surely, this will have a huge impact on people’s businesses. For all who are importing and selling Graphic Cards in Pakistan, this is bad news.
Results
The economic situation of the country is not very good at the moment. Therefore, the Government of Pakistan has to find ways to incorporate cash. After PTA taxes on mobile devices, this is the latest tactic to collect as many taxes as possible.