Karachi, April 9, 2025 – The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has announced significant amendments to the Sindh Sales Tax (SST) Special Procedure (Collection Agent) Rules, 2024, aimed specifically at food delivery platforms operating within the province.
These changes, issued via an official notification, focus on revising the collection and declaration process for SST on services provided through digital food delivery platforms.
Under the amended Rule 3, the SRB has clarified the responsibilities of collection agents—primarily food delivery platforms. These platforms are now required to charge and collect the applicable sales tax based on the gross value of services provided, which includes any commission charged by the platform itself. The tax collected must be clearly reported in Table-1 of Annex-C1 of the SST return (Form SST-03), along with the corresponding tariff heading of the relevant service.
The SRB further directed that the collected tax should be reflected in row “14b” of the monthly SST return and e-deposited into the Sindh Government’s designated account by the 15th of the month following the tax period. This must be done without any deductions or adjustments by the collection agent. Additionally, service providers—such as restaurants and homechefs—operating through these platforms are still obligated to file their returns under Chapter III of the Sindh Sales Tax on Services Rules, 2011, and declare the full tax liability in Annex-C. The system will automatically populate Table-II of Annex-C1 based on the platform’s declarations, thereby enabling credit for the tax already collected.
The SRB originally introduced the SST Special Procedure (Collection Agent) Rules on December 19, 2024, to streamline tax collection from digital platforms. The newly updated Table defines the rate of tax and collection ratio based on the registration status of the service provider. For registered restaurants, food delivery platforms must collect 8% SST without input tax credit when payments are made via digital methods, and 15% otherwise, with a 50% collection rate. For unregistered entities, platforms are responsible for collecting SST at 15%, with only 1% of that being actually payable by the platforms.
These revised rules will take effect starting May 1, 2025. The SRB emphasized that the move aims to improve tax compliance and ensure transparency in transactions facilitated by digital platforms. With the growing reliance on such platforms, SRB is focusing on building a more robust and accountable tax ecosystem.