Charter of the Economy Pakistan has enhanced its ranking in six out of the ten indicators of ease of doing business. However, it has slipped in four indicators, indicated below: Ranking From To Despite the fall, Pakistan still has a relatively high ranking in protecting minority investors and resolving insolvency. The big fall is in • Protecting Minority Investors • Registering Property 21 28 registering property and some fall in trading across borders. 114 151 • Resolving Insolvency 28 • Trading across Borders 108 58 Two areas where there is an improvement, 111 but the rankings remain low are as follows: • Enforcing Contracts • Paying Taxes Latest Ranking 156 161 Paying taxes is one of the most frequent transactions of companies and other entities. The basic problem is the large number of taxes and other levies by the Federal, Provincial, and local Governments. The Board of Investment is reporting regularly on steps being taken to facilitate business operations in the country. This is an appropriate step as foreign investors are likely to focus on a country’s ranking in ease of doing business. There are some important areas of business operations and transactions that are more country-specific in character and have not been included in the World Bank’s index. 5.2. Companies acting as Withholding Tax Agents Both financial and non-financial companies act as withholding tax agents with deductions at the source on many transactions. These include the following: Section 149 150 150A 151(1)(b) 152 153 231 235 236 Source: FBR Withholding Taxes Collected by Companies Description Tax on Salary Income Dividend Payments Return on Investment in Sukuk Interest income and bank transactions Payment to Non-Residents Sale of FMCG, Services and payment for Execution of Contracts, Royalty, etc. Cash Withdrawal, Sale of Motor Vehicles Electricity Bills Telephone Bills 44