On 18 February 2026, FBR published a new Chapter VIIA of the Income Tax Rules 2002, titled "Online Integration of Businesses". Where the earlier sales tax regime caught registered persons by turnover, this one works by sector — and the sectors named are overwhelmingly services that have never dealt with POS integration before.
One point before anything else: at the time of writing, most professional commentary treats SRO 288(I)/2026 as a draft. It would require a final notification, and an Income Tax General Order setting timelines, before anyone has a date to work to. We have seen it described as issued, and we have not been able to confirm that. Check FBR's own site before acting on any timeline you are quoted.
Who is named
The draft covers a broad span of service businesses. Grouping them roughly:
- Hospitality and events
- Restaurants, hostels, motels, guest houses, marriage halls and marquees, along with event managers, photographers and videographers.
- Health
- Private hospitals, clinics, dentists, physiotherapists, surgeons, veterinarians, pathological laboratories and diagnostic centres.
- Clubs and wellness
- Health clubs, gyms, swimming pools and multipurpose clubs — with large city clubs named as examples in the coverage.
- Transport and logistics
- Inter-city road transport, courier and cargo services.
- Education
- Private schools, colleges, universities and vocational institutes.
- Personal services and retail
- Beauty parlours, slimming, massage and pedicure centres; retailers including manufacturer-, wholesaler- and importer-cum-retailers; foreign exchange dealers; accountants.
What it asks for beyond invoicing
The draft goes further than transmitting documents. It contemplates QR codes on invoices, digital signatures, record retention obligations, audit access to systems, a licensing regime for integrators, and CCTV cameras at every point of sale.
The CCTV requirement is the one that will generate the most resistance, and the one most likely to change between draft and final. We would not spend money on it until there is a final notification.
The provincial collision
Services are a provincial subject in Pakistan, and the provinces already run their own POS regimes. This draft therefore lands on top of existing provincial mandates rather than into empty space.
In Punjab, the Revenue Authority's Electronic Invoice Monitoring System is already mandatory for hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and marriage halls, with a province-wide ban on handwritten receipts. Enforcement is active: fines run from Rs 400,000 to Rs 1,000,000, premises can be sealed for up to a month, and notices have gone to dozens of venues. In Sindh, the Revenue Board operates its own online integration rules and has sealed non-compliant Karachi restaurants.
Provincial tax authorities have formally objected to FBR drawing service providers into the federal system, on the grounds that they already mandate integration. How that is resolved is a policy question, but the practical position for a marriage hall in Lahore today is that the provincial obligation is live and enforced regardless of what happens to the federal draft.
If you run one of these businesses
The sensible posture is to treat the provincial requirement as the live obligation and the federal draft as a signal of direction.
That means a point of sale that can issue a compliant electronic receipt now, and an architecture that can transmit to more than one authority later. A system hard-wired to a single endpoint will need rebuilding; one that treats the tax authority as a configurable destination will not.
It also means your invoice numbering, item codes and customer records need to be clean before anyone asks for them. That work is the same whichever authority ends up receiving the data, and it is the part that takes time.
Common questions
Is SRO 288(I)/2026 in force?
Most professional commentary treats it as a draft requiring a final notification and an Income Tax General Order to set timelines. We have seen it described as issued and could not confirm that. Verify on FBR's own site before acting on a quoted deadline.
Do marriage halls need e-invoicing in Pakistan?
In Punjab, yes — the PRA's E-IMS is already mandatory for marriage halls with handwritten receipts banned province-wide, and enforcement is active. The federal draft would add a separate obligation if finalised.
Do we need both FBR and provincial integration?
Potentially. Services are provincially taxed, so a provincial mandate can apply alongside a federal one. Build so the destination is configurable rather than hard-wired to a single authority.
Does the draft really require CCTV at the point of sale?
The published draft contemplates it, among digital signatures, record retention and audit access. It is among the provisions most likely to change before any final notification, and we would not invest against it yet.