PM Imran Khan announces ‘no tax’ policy for freelance workers

Prime Minister(PM) Imran Khan has announced that registered freelancers will be exempted from all types of taxes.

While addressing the launching ceremony of the E-commerce Portal, PM said that freelancers will not be liable to any sort of tax on their income now.

He said, “IT [sector] is youth-driven. All of these tech company owners became billionaires by the age of 20.”

He also shared that the government’s aim is to take Information technology (IT) exports upto $50 billion in the upcoming years. The exports of IT have reached $4 billion during the past two years.

He also added that women at home will be able to empower themselves by freelancing at home.

He also opened up about his future plans to work with Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, for the IT industry. He was invited to Pakistan to honour him as he made efforts to eliminate polio disease from the country.

PM said, “But my interest was to involve him in Pakistan’s IT [industry] even if in an advisory capacity.”

In September 2021, the Information Technology Ministry of Pakistan launched a portal to register freelancers.

World Bank released a report last year in September in which it revealed that the number of freelancers is much higher than Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.