Only Registered Sellers Can Use Online Marketplaces and Couriers in Pakistan – New Tax Rules 2025

Starting from the 1st of July, 2025 a new tax directive has been passed, stating that the online marketplaces (OMPs) and courier services in Pakistan are only allowed to work with the sellers who are registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). It aims to trace all the transactions done via e-commerce and not only that but also to make sure that there is tax compliance.

Why This Matters

There are a lot of people who run online businesses or sell products via different platforms and the majority of them are unregistered. To fix this problem, the FBR has made it easier for the local sellers to get National Tax Numbers (NTNs) and has brought in a convenient withholding tax system to get the tax on digital sales.

How Withholding Tax Will Work

There are two new tax measures introduced:

• Section 6A: Final withholding tax will be applied on every instance of a digital transaction, where the goods are sold or ordered online.
• Section 153(2A): The tax collector’s role is assigned to the intermediaries who are banks, payment gateways, and couriers, i.e. they are carriers of the responsibility for collecting this tax.
• The intermediaries who process online payments are the ones who collect 1% withholding tax.
• The couriers will be collecting 2% of the gross transaction amount as withholding tax for Cash on Delivery (CoD).

This is a step towards encouraging the use of digital payments over cash, which will eventually lead to the complete turn towards digital transactions.

Responsibilities of Intermediaries and Couriers

• Payment intermediaries (as an example acquiring banks) through a transaction have to perform the tax withholding and submit a monthly withholding tax statement.
• CoD orders couriers have to collect the tax, make a deposit into the national treasury, and issue a document on behalf of each seller.

There will be severe punishments for any marketplace or intermediaries which are non-compliant not only in failure to collect the tax but also in continuing to work with unregistered sellers.

Final Thoughts

Pakistan’s e-commerce regulations have been changed significantly by the new step. By verifying that sellers are registered, that the correct taxes are collected, and that cashless transactions are encouraged, the move aims to establish a more transparent and genuine online financial system.