Filer vs non-filer: what you pay extra on cars, property and bank transactions

Pakistan uses withholding tax as a stick: if you are not on the Active Taxpayer List, most withholding rates are applied at 100% higher (and sometimes more).

Where the gap bites

• Vehicle registration (section 231B), slabs by engine capacity; the non-filer rate is roughly double.
• Property purchase and sale (236C/236K), the difference on a Rs 20 million plot runs into hundreds of thousands of rupees.
• Cash withdrawals above the daily threshold, a percentage for non-filers only.
• Profit on debt, 15% for filers vs a much higher rate for non-filers.
• Dividends, prize bonds, mobile top-ups, higher for non-filers.

The fix is cheap

Registration on IRIS is free; filing a salaried return takes under an hour. Our step-by-step guide walks through it, and tax consultants will do it for a few thousand rupees.