ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has mandated around 40,000 major retail stores and their outlets to report sales data within 24 hours or face the risk of business premises being sealed.
On Monday, the FBR issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) outlining the procedures for sealing and desealing businesses that fail to comply. The move aims to tighten tax compliance among Tier-1 retailers, which include 11,000 brands with 40,000 outlets across Pakistan.
Previously, the FBR found that these retailers delayed sharing sales data, leading to gaps in tax assessment. The new rules now require them to ensure real-time connectivity of their sales data with the FBR system, allowing tax authorities to assess daily sales.
According to SRO 164 (1) 2025, a retailer’s premises may be sealed if they issue unverified invoices, remain disconnected from the FBR database for more than 48 hours, fail to enter offline invoices into the system within 24 hours, or do not maintain invoice records during offline periods.
For de-sealing, the Inland Revenue (IR) commissioner will impose a penalty, and the business can reopen within 24 hours of paying the penalty and any tax demand raised during an audit. Retailers can also file an appeal.
Additionally, the IR commissioner will conduct a software audit of all point-of-sale (POS) machines within three working days after de-sealing to verify sales records. If under-declared sales are detected, further tax demands will be created.
If the retailer fails to pay, the business may remain sealed for a month, and if the default continues for 15 days beyond that, the premises will be re-sealed. The penalty will be imposed under serial No. 25A of section 33 of the Sales Tax Act, as per FBR regulations.
