New risk-based procedure aims to speed up registration for compliant businesses while limiting unnecessary document demands.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced a time-bound procedure for processing sales tax registration applications submitted by low-risk applicants, directing field offices to grant registration, where practicable, within three working days.
The instructions were issued through Sales Tax General Order (STGO) No. 20 of 2026 – IR Operations, aimed at making sales tax registration more transparent, efficient and facilitative while maintaining safeguards against fraudulent or fictitious registrations.
The FBR said registration of persons liable to sales tax would continue to be governed by the Sales Tax Act, 1990 and Chapter-I of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006.
Risk-based processing of applications
Under Rule 5 of the Sales Tax Rules, applicants are required to submit the prescribed registration application electronically along with the necessary information and documents.
These include a bank account certificate, utility details and photographs of business premises. Manufacturers are additionally required to provide photographs of machinery and industrial electricity or gas meters.
The rules also empower the FBR to require pre-verification, post-verification or both in the case of manufacturers through field offices or a third party authorised by the Board.
Under the new instructions, all sales tax registration applications submitted through the computerised system or IRIS will be processed strictly according to prescribed risk parameters.
Applications classified as low risk through the computerised risk-management system will receive priority and be processed on a time-bound basis.
Registration to be granted within three working days
The FBR directed local registration offices to process complete low-risk applications without unnecessary delay.
Where an application is complete and all prescribed requirements have been fulfilled, registration should, as far as practicable, be granted within three working days.
The measure is intended to facilitate legitimate businesses while allowing the tax authority to maintain appropriate controls over higher-risk applications.
Limits on additional document demands
The FBR has also restricted the circumstances in which additional documents or information can be sought from low-risk applicants.
According to the STGO, no additional document or information should be demanded unless:
• it is specifically required under the Sales Tax Act, 1990;
• it is prescribed under the Sales Tax Rules, 2006;
• it is required to verify information provided by the applicant; or
• it is necessitated by a specific risk indicator generated through the computerised risk-management system.
The FBR said the procedure would help ensure that legitimate and low-risk taxpayers are registered promptly while retaining necessary safeguards against fraudulent and fictitious registrations.
The new instructions are part of the tax authority’s efforts to streamline registration procedures through risk-based processing and reduce unnecessary delays for compliant businesses.