The sales tax side of Pakistani e-commerce

Pakistani e-commerce now sits inside two tax regimes that developed separately and are frequently confused. The income tax position runs through section 6A and withholding by intermediaries. The sales tax position is what this guide covers, and the Finance Act 2026 changed it materially.

What the Finance Act 2026 did

Before, many online platforms operated without formal sales tax registration and the mechanism for taxing cross-border digital services was unclear. The Act addressed both through amendments to the Sales Tax Act 1990 and the Federal Excise Act:

• Electronic marketplace operators are required to register with FBR and account for sales tax on supplies facilitated through their platforms.
• Non-resident digital service providers supplying services to Pakistani consumers are required to register under a simplified registration regime.
• Marketplaces facilitating third-party sales carry withholding collection obligations at the point of payment settlement.
• Platform-to-seller payment flows can be treated as payments for services, triggering withholding before disbursement.

What a Pakistani seller has to work out

The common error is treating platform involvement as a complete answer. Marketplace obligations sit alongside your own; they do not replace them.

The reconciliation you cannot skip

Platform settlement reports and your own accounting will never match without work, and the gap is where compliance fails:

1. Gross sales per the platform report.
2. Less platform commission and fees, which are your expenses even though deducted before you see the money.
3. Less tax collected or withheld by the platform — identify the amount and the basis.
4. Less refunds, returns and chargebacks.
5. Equals the net remittance, which should tie to your bank credit.

Sellers who record only the net credit as revenue understate turnover and expenses simultaneously, which distorts the sales tax return, the income tax computation and the turnover reconciliation between them. Build this monthly — bookkeeping for tax compliance.

If you are a non-resident supplier

Foreign businesses selling digital services to Pakistani consumers can no longer assume they are outside the net. The simplified registration regime exists precisely to bring them in. Establish:

• Whether your services fall within the scope of the regime.
• What your Pakistani consumer revenue actually is, which requires the data before the analysis.
• What registration and periodic reporting the simplified regime requires.
• Whether an income tax position also arises — significant economic presence rules can reach a business with no physical Pakistani presence — Pakistan-source income.

Invoicing and digital invoicing

An online seller within the sales tax net still has to issue compliant tax invoices, with all the mandatory particulars, and may separately fall within digital invoicing scope depending on category and phasing. Selling through a platform does not remove the invoicing obligation for supplies you make in your own right. See invoice requirements and digital invoicing.

Pricing on a platform once tax is in the picture

Marketplace pricing is usually set to a headline figure the customer sees, and sellers frequently build that figure without deciding whether it includes tax. The consequences on a platform are worse than in ordinary trade, because you cannot renegotiate after the sale:

• Decide the basis before listing. If your listed price is what the customer pays, it is a tax-inclusive figure and the tax has to be extracted from it, not added to it — inclusive versus exclusive.
• Model the full deduction stack. Platform commission, fulfilment fees, advertising, payment charges, tax collected or withheld, and refunds all sit between the listed price and your bank credit.
• Check the margin after all of it. A listing priced on gross revenue less cost of goods, ignoring the stack, can be loss-making at volume without anyone noticing until the year end.

This is a bookkeeping problem before it is a tax problem, and the businesses that get it wrong are usually those recording only the net remittance as revenue.

What to do now

1. Map your revenue by supply type — goods, services, domestic, export — and by customer location.
2. Establish your own registration position independently of what the platform does.
3. Ask the platform, in writing, what it accounts for and withholds, and obtain the documentation supporting it.
4. Build the monthly settlement reconciliation.
5. Separate domestic and export streams in your records.
6. Check the income tax position alongside — section 6A and e-commerce income tax.

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.

• Sales Tax Act 1990, amended through 30 June 2026 (FBR)
• Finance Act 2026 (FBR)
• Sales Tax Basics (FBR)
• Digital Invoicing FAQs (FBR)

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