Pakistan's Finance Act 2024 raises sales tax on imported laptops to 10% and presumes intent in tax fraud

What changed in detail

The Finance Act, 2024 (Act No. X of 2024) received the President’s assent on 29 June 2024 and was published in the Gazette of Pakistan Extraordinary on 30 June 2024. Under section 1(2) it came into force on 1 July 2024, unless a provision says otherwise. It amends the Sales Tax Act, 1990 as follows:

• Laptops and PCs. Eighth Schedule S. No. 77 (imported personal computers, laptops and notebooks, PCT 8471.3020 and 8471.3010) is substituted at a reduced rate of 10%.
• Gold. Import of gold under the entrustment scheme of SRO 760(I)/2013 is added to the Sixth Schedule as exempt (S. No. 178).
• Tax fraud. The definition of tax fraud gains an Explanation: any act or omission it lists is treated as intentional unless the accused proves that he had no intention, motive, knowledge or reason to believe he was committing a tax fraud.
• Enforcement. New section 30AB establishes a Tax Fraud Investigation Wing Inland Revenue.
• Definitions. Seven clauses of section 2 are amended or inserted: (3), (4), (14), (15A, new), (37), (44) and (46). Clauses (3) “associates” and (4) “Board” are aligned with the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, and new clause (15A) defines a “licensed integrator” for electronic invoicing.

What it means

Every provision listed here except the tax-fraud Explanation is still in the Sales Tax Act. FBR’s consolidations of the Act carry S. No. 77 at 10%, section 30AB, the Sixth Schedule gold entry and clause (15A).

The “licensed integrator” definition is what the FBR’s 2025 e-invoicing roll-out relied on. S.R.O. 709(I)/2025 required integration “through license integrator or PRAL”, and its successors set the final dates. The tax-fraud Explanation moved the burden of proof onto the taxpayer, but only from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. From 1 July 2025 the Finance Act, 2025 substituted clause (37), which now defines tax fraud as “knowingly, intentionally, or dishonestly doing any act or abetting” the listed conduct, and omitted the Explanation. FBR Circular 02 of 2025-26 confirms the omission, so there is no longer a reverse burden of proof.