Before you start

A National Tax Number obtained through the FBR's IRIS portal
A day count against a July–June year
Salary certificates or accreditation documents and any foreign income records
KPRA registration, if you provide taxable services from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Step-by-step

1
Count your days against a 1 July–30 June year
183 days or more of presence in the tax year makes you a resident individual taxed on worldwide income rather than only on Pakistan-source income. The year ends on 30 June, so a spring arrival crosses the threshold in a way a calendar-year assumption does not predict. Count deliberately in your first and last years.
OnlineWho: YouOn arrival
2
Establish whether an accreditation changes your position
Staff of accredited international organisations may be treated differently under Pakistan's host-country agreements, and the treatment is not uniform between organisations. Given how much of Peshawar's foreign workforce is in that category, this is the first question rather than a footnote. Get the answer in writing from your organisation's administration.
Via employerWho: YouMonth 1
3
Register for an NTN on IRIS
Pakistani individuals use the CNIC as their tax number; a foreign national registers separately on the FBR's IRIS portal. Do it early — banks want it and several transactions are cheaper with it.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 1
4
File a return every year, on time, even on withheld salary
Filing is the act that places you on the Active Taxpayers List. Registering is not. The list is rebuilt weekly and late filers are admitted only on payment of a surcharge. Salary tax deducted at source does not remove the filing obligation.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually, by the FBR due date
5
Register with the KPRA if you provide services from this province
Sales tax on services is provincial, and in Peshawar that is the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority — not the FBR, not Punjab's PRA and not Sindh's SRB. Consultants and service companies here file federally for income tax and provincially with the KPRA, with separate registration, separate returns and separate rates.
OnlineWho: You
6
Resolve the treaty position on any foreign income in year one
Pakistan has a wide double taxation treaty network. If you are resident here and taxed elsewhere on the same income, the treaty and the foreign tax credit rules decide the outcome. This is the part worth paying for once rather than guessing at annually.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

NTN and IRIS login
Salary certificate and withholding statements, or accreditation documents
Bank statements
Records of foreign income and any foreign tax paid
KPRA registration, for service businesses

Things most newcomers don’t know

The provincial services tax is 15% here and 16% in Punjab, and the two provinces do not structure it the same way.

Section 9 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sales Tax on Services Act 2022 charges tax on the value of a taxable service at the rate in the Second Schedule, with a proviso deeming fifteen percent the standard or general rate for all purposes of the Act. Punjab's standard rate is sixteen percent and the Punjab Finance Act 2025 reorganised its schedules so that services are taxable unless specifically listed as tax-free. For anyone invoicing services, the province you bill from changes both the rate and the analysis of whether a given service is caught at all — and an adviser registered with the PRA is not thereby registered with the KPRA.

Source: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority

Filer status is a transactional discount, not a statement about honesty, and it lapses.

The Active Taxpayers List determines your withholding rate on property purchases, vehicle registration, dividends and certain banking activity, and the gap between filer and non-filer rates is large enough to matter on any significant transaction. An NTN alone does not put you on the list — filing by the due date does, and a late filer is admitted only after paying a surcharge. Because the list is rebuilt weekly, a missed year drops you off it.

Source: Federal Board of Revenue

The KPRA's head office is in Hayatabad, which is one of the few times being in Peshawar is administratively easier.

The authority is headquartered near Phase-3 Chowk in Hayatabad with sub-offices in Mardan, Abbottabad and Bannu, and it runs its own e-registration, e-filing and appellate structure — a Collector (Appeals) and an Appellate Tribunal before anything reaches the High Court. For a service business based here, the deciding body is in the same city, which is unusual in Pakistani tax administration and worth using rather than routing questions through Islamabad.

Source: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority

IT and IT-enabled services exports are taxed under a concessional regime, and its terms keep moving.

Pakistan taxes export earnings from IT and IT-enabled services on a concessional basis rather than at ordinary rates, and the KP IT Board has built its incubation programme partly around that. Successive Finance Acts have extended, repriced and re-scoped the concession. Anyone structuring income around it should confirm the current position with the FBR directly rather than relying on a figure from a blog — this is exactly the sort of provision that is settled background knowledge right up until it is not.

Source: Federal Board of Revenue

Common mistakes to avoid

Applying a calendar-year mental model to a July–June tax year.
Registering for an NTN and assuming that makes you a filer.
Engaging an adviser registered with the Punjab Revenue Authority for a KPRA matter.
Assuming Punjab's services tax rate and schedule structure apply in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Guessing at the tax treatment of an accredited international-organisation post.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.