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FBR reports 19% increase in tax collection from wedding events | The Express Tribune
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reported a 19 per cent increase in tax collections from wedding events across Pakistan. The board has attributed the rise to stricter monitoring and enforcement of withholding tax measures targeting the country’s thriving event industry.
According to official documents, the FBR collected Rs2.02 billion in withholding taxes from wedding functions during fiscal year 2024–25 — up from Rs1.70 billion the previous year — marking a gain of nearly Rs500 million. Officials said the increase reflected the growing documentation of event-related businesses and services, particularly in major cities.
“The wedding and events industry represents a significant but largely undocumented segment of the economy,” an FBR official told The Express Tribune. “Through systematic enforcement and better monitoring, we are ensuring that this sector contributes its fair share to the national revenue.”
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The tax is collected under Section 236CB of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, which authorises the FBR to impose and collect advance tax on wedding functions. It applies to marquees, halls, hotels, restaurants, clubs, and community centres, as well as ancillary services such as catering, décor, and event management.
Under the law, individuals listed in the Active Taxpayers List (ATL) are charged a 10 per cent withholding tax, while non-filers face a 20 per cent advance tax on wedding expenditures. For filers, the amount paid as advance tax is adjusted in their annual tax liability.
Officials noted a notable rise in wedding-related tax receipts from Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad — the three cities that host the largest share of high-end events. They said the FBR’s renewed enforcement was part of a wider effort to bring informal sectors under the tax net.
“The objective is not to burden citizens but to formalise economic activity that has long operated outside the system,” another official said. “Proper documentation ensures fairness and supports broader fiscal stability.”
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UniQure needs to run another study to prove that its gene therapy “actually helps people with Huntington’s disease,” a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said on a call with reporters Thursday.
The official, who requested anonymity before discussing sensitive information, confirmed the agency has asked the company to run a placebo controlled trial of its treatment, which is administered directly into the brain. UniQure has said that type of study isn’t ethical because it would require putting people under general anesthesia for hours, a characterization the official disputed.
“So what is really going on? UniQure is the latest company to make a failed therapy for Huntington’s patients,” the official said. “They likely acknowledge or understand at some deep level that their trial failed years ago, and instead of doing the right thing and running the correct clinical study, UniQure is performing a distorted or manipulated comparison in the mind of FDA.”
The comments mark the latest development in a messy public spat between UniQure and the FDA, and as the agency comes under fire for a number of recent drug approval application rejections, including some where companies have accused it of going back on previous guidance. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick last week seemingly criticized UniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Makary didn’t name UniQure but described its treatment.
UniQure then accused the FDA of reversing its stance that the company’s clinical trial data would be sufficient to seek approval. UniQure’s study used an outside database to measure how patients with Huntington’s disease might decline without treatment, known as an external control. UniQure has said it wouldn’t be feasible to run a true randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, considered the gold standard, because it wouldn’t be ethical to make people undergo a sham hours-long brain surgery.
The FDA official said the agency “never agreed to accept this distorted comparison” and the FDA “never makes such assurances.” Instead, the “FDA will always say, ‘Well, we have to see the data when we get it.'”
UniQure didn’t immediately comment.
The company’s stock rose more than 10% on Thursday and has fallen 58% this year as of Thursday afternoon.
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US mortgage rates rise to 6% after three-week slide as oil-driven bond yields climb – The Times of India
The average long-term US mortgage rate edged higher this week, ending a three-week decline as bond yields rose amid oil-price pressures linked to the war with Iran.The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 6% from 5.98% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Thursday. A year ago, the average rate stood at 6.63%, AP reported.The modest uptick breaks a three-week slide in borrowing costs, with mortgage rates having hovered close to the 6% mark for most of this year. Last week’s average had marked the first time the rate dipped below 6% since September 2022, reaching its lowest level in nearly three and a half years.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy, investor expectations about inflation and economic growth, and movements in the bond market.They typically track the direction of the 10-year US Treasury yield, which lenders use as a benchmark for pricing home loans.The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.14% at midday Thursday, up from around 4% a week earlier.Treasury yields have moved higher in recent days as rising oil prices added fresh inflation concerns, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve’s plans to cut interest rates.
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