ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reduced customs valuation rates on imported USB flash drives, data travellers, and memory cards, lowering the tax burden at the import stage.
According to an official notification, the revised customs values will be applied during import for the assessment of customs duty and taxes. The move is aimed at aligning valuations with prevailing international market prices and providing relief to consumers.
Under the new valuation, customs duty on 16GB USB flash drives imported from China will be calculated at $0.78, while imports from other countries will be assessed at $1.
For 32GB USBs, the customs value has been set at $0.87 for Chinese imports and $1.13 for imports from other countries. Similarly, 64GB USBs will be assessed at $1.17 for Chinese products and $1.52 for those imported from elsewhere.
The customs value for 128GB USB drives has been fixed at $2.60 for Chinese imports and $3.38 for other countries, while 256GB USBs will be assessed at $2.99 and $3.88, respectively.
For higher-capacity devices, customs duty on 512GB USB drives has been set at $3.99 for Chinese imports and $5.18 for other countries.
Meanwhile, 1TB USB drives will attract customs duty of $7.64 if imported from China and $9.93 from other countries. For 2TB USB drives, the customs values have been fixed at $14.76 for Chinese imports and $19.18 for imports from other origins.
The FBR has issued a formal notification to implement the revised valuation for USBs, flash drives, and memory cards.
Reduction in Taxes on Used iPhones
A day earlier, the government also announced revised customs values for the import of used and refurbished iPhones, as reported by ARY News.
The Directorate General of Customs Valuation introduced the new rates to better reflect global market trends and bring an estimated 100 million non-PTA mobile phones into the tax net.
As part of the revision, tax duties on 62 percent of used mobile phone models have been reduced. Notably, the tax on a used iPhone 15 has been cut by Rs18,000, reducing it from Rs60,000 to Rs42,000, while the tax on the iPhone 14 has been lowered by Rs10,000 to Rs40,000.