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FBR orders online monitoring of over 14 business sectors

FBR orders online

LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced a nationwide plan to monitor business activities online by mandating Point of Sale (POS) systems for more than 14 types of businesses.

POS Requirement for Various Sectors

According to the FBR notification: Hotels, restaurants, guest houses, marriage halls, marquees, and race clubs must install POS systems, except where air conditioning is unavailable.

Retail shops, hospitals, clubs, beauty parlors, and other service providers must also be linked to the FBR system.

Vehicles operating in cities, courier and cargo services, and medical professionals such as dentists, physiotherapists, plastic and hair surgeons, veterinary doctors, medical labs, X-ray, CT, and MRI centers are required to implement POS.

Beauty parlors, massage centers, pedicure centers, and private hospitals must also comply, with hospitals charging a fee of 500 PKR granted an exemption.

Expansion to Health Clubs, Gyms, and Educational Institutions

Health clubs, gyms, swimming pools, multipurpose clubs, civil and non-civil polo clubs, chartered accountants, and cost management accountants are now included in the POS mandate.

Retailers, manufacturers, importers, foreign exchange dealers, currency exchange companies, private educational institutions, and vocational training centers are also required to integrate online systems.

Institutions charging a monthly fee of 1,000 PKR are exempt from the POS requirement.

Cities Covered and Implementation

The FBR notification specifically mentions Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, directing all gyms, clubs, and other establishments in these cities to comply. Retailers, manufacturers, and importers nationwide must integrate their systems with FBR online monitoring to enhance transparency and tax compliance.

This move is part of the FBR’s broader strategy to digitize and monitor business operations across Pakistan.

FBR halts Afghan Transit Trade from Karachi ports

FBR

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has temporarily halted Afghan Transit Trade operations from Karachi ports, citing capacity constraints at customs stations in Quetta and Peshawar.

The decision was taken during a key meeting held at the Directorate of Transit Trade Headquarters, Customs House Karachi, chaired by the Director General of Afghan Transit Trade. Directors of Afghan Transit Quetta and Peshawar attended the session via Zoom.

Following the meeting, the FBR issued Customs General Order No. 98/2025, stating that the movement of Afghan Transit Trade consignments has been suspended indefinitely due to severe congestion and lack of storage capacity at the Quetta and Peshawar customs stations, where no additional space is available to accommodate containers.

The order directed that all terminals unload Afghan Transit containers already placed on vehicles, cancel gate passes, and halt all transportation activities related to Afghan Transit Trade until further instructions are issued.

As a result of this directive, terminals at Karachi Port and Port Qasim have suspended the clearance of Afghan Transit consignments.

According to customs sources, long queues of Transit Procedure (TP) containers have formed at the South Asia Pakistan Terminals (SAPT), with hundreds of containers already loaded on trucks and many more stranded en route to Quetta and Peshawar, where drivers are waiting for the border to reopen.