Transport, logistics, courier and delivery services

Transport and logistics — goods carriage, courier networks, freight forwarding, third-party logistics — are services taxed by the provinces. The sector runs across provincial boundaries by its nature, which makes place of provision a live issue, and some transport services carry their own rates. This guide frames the position for operators moving goods and running delivery networks.

A provincial service

The carriage of goods, courier, freight-forwarding and logistics services are all services, so they fall under provincial sales tax administered by the relevant provincial authority — PRA, SRB, KPRA or BRA — with Islamabad under FBR. A courier or logistics company registers and files with the provincial authority for the services it renders, separate from the federal goods regime. The goods being moved belong to customers; what the operator supplies is the service of moving them, which is the taxable event.

Rates for goods transport

Transport does not always sit at the general standard rate. Carriage of goods by road or rail carries a specified rate in some provinces that can differ from the standard, and reduced rates apply to certain transport services. Where a reduced rate applies, the usual caveat follows — input tax adjustment may be restricted, so an operator on a reduced transport rate may not reclaim input tax on fuel, vehicles and other inputs in the ordinary way. There is also a distinction worth noting between goods carriage and passenger transport: passenger transport may be treated differently or fall outside the tax in some provinces, whereas goods carriage and courier are generally within it. The applicable rate and its conditions vary by province and change, so they should be confirmed with the authority.

Cross-province routes

The defining feature of the sector is that it crosses provincial boundaries. A logistics or courier service moving goods between provinces raises the question of which authority's tax applies, based on where the service is rendered and how the arrangement is structured. An operator running a national network commonly needs to consider registration in more than one jurisdiction — the same place-of-provision challenge that other multi-province services face, but built into the very nature of transport. With the growth of e-commerce, last-mile delivery has amplified this, drawing courier and delivery operators firmly into provincial services tax across the regions they serve. Mapping routes to authorities, rather than assuming the home province covers everything, is essential.

Common mistakes

• Treating goods carriage as a federal matter rather than a provincial service.
• Applying the general standard rate where a specified goods-transport rate applies.
• Claiming input tax on fuel and vehicles while on a reduced transport rate that restricts it.
• Registering only in the home province while running routes across provincial boundaries.

Where it fits

Transport is a multi-province service like IT, closely tied to e-commerce delivery, and related to vehicle rental where vehicles are hired rather than services sold. For province detail, see the Punjab (PRA) overview. Carriage and courier are provincial services, often at specified rates and across provinces.

Where the rate actually comes from

Carriage of goods carries its own rate distinct from the standard one, and freight transport sits in the reduced-rate part of the Sindh schedule. Note also that terminal taxes on goods and passengers carried by railway, sea or air fall under Entry 53 of the Federal Legislative List and are outside provincial jurisdiction altogether.

The standard rate is 16 per cent in Punjab and 15 per cent in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, with telecommunication services higher at 19.5 per cent and Islamabad Capital Territory administered by FBR. Sindh has also moved from a positive list to a negative list, so a Sindh service is taxable unless it is specifically exempt — if you concluded some years ago that you were outside the net, that conclusion needs re-testing. The full picture is in the rates by province guide; the authoritative figure for your own category is in the current working tariff published by Punjab Revenue Authority or the authority for your province.

Source check: 14 September 2026. Standard provincial rates and the Sindh negative-list reform are sourced in the rates-by-province guide. The category treatment described above is general orientation and has not been confirmed line by line against any authority's current schedule — read your own entry in the applicable working tariff before invoicing.

Sources

This guide is written against the official and clearly labelled professional references below. Rates, thresholds and portal procedures change between reviews, so open the primary source before relying on a figure.

• Punjab Revenue Authority sales tax guidance
• Sindh Revenue Board
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority
• Balochistan Revenue Authority
• Sales Tax Basics (FBR)

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