Guide
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PRA Restaurant Invoice Monitoring in Punjab
The Punjab Revenue Authority runs its own Electronic Invoice Monitoring System for sales tax on services, separate from FBR. It collects invoice-level data from service providers in real time and generates a unique digital invoice per transaction on the authority's server. Restaurants above a revenue threshold have been required to install it.
Not tax advice — This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Pakistan's e-invoicing rules have been amended and their deadlines extended repeatedly since 2025, so the position may have changed since this page was last verified. Confirm your own obligations with FBR directly or with a qualified tax advisor before acting.
Why is this separate from FBR?
Because in Pakistan sales tax on services is a provincial subject. FBR administers federal sales tax on goods; the Punjab Revenue Authority administers sales tax on services within Punjab, and the other provinces run their own equivalents.
For a restaurant in Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot or Lahore, that means two authorities can be interested in the same till at the same time, for different reasons, under different rules. Being integrated with one does not satisfy the other.
What does the PRA system do?
The Electronic Invoice Monitoring System collects invoice-level data from service providers in real time, generating a unique digital invoice for each transaction which is recorded on the tax authority's server. It has been operated in conjunction with the Punjab Information Technology Board.
The design intent is the same as FBR's: remove the gap between what was actually sold and what is later reported.
Which restaurants have to install it?
Reported thresholds have moved. Earlier criteria applied to registered taxpayers in designated service sectors with annual turnover of PKR 10 million and above. Reporting in 2024 described restaurants with annual revenue of Rs 6 million being brought into scope.
PRA has issued notices to restaurants requiring installation within fifteen days, and has indicated fines for those not installing as required. Confirm the current threshold and your own position with PRA directly — provincial thresholds have changed more than once.
Note — Thresholds cited here come from press reporting of PRA notifications rather than from a primary PRA document we could verify directly. Treat them as indicative and confirm with PRA.
What this means for your restaurant POS
Practically, a restaurant system in Punjab may need to talk to two separate government endpoints, and it needs to do so without slowing down a counter during dinner service.
That argues for the same architecture we recommend generally: keep the integration layer separate from the billing layer, queue rather than block when an endpoint is unreachable, and store the authority's returned identifiers against the transaction so reconciliation is possible later. A system built with one hard-coded integration is a system that has to be rewritten when the second one arrives.
Does this apply outside Punjab?
The PRA system is Punjab-specific, but the principle is not. Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan each have their own revenue authorities for sales tax on services with their own requirements. If you operate across provinces, treat each one as a separate compliance question rather than assuming reciprocity.
Sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to one of the following. Where FBR publishes something directly, that is what we have used.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
No. FBR administers federal sales tax on goods, while the Punjab Revenue Authority administers sales tax on services within Punjab. They are separate systems with separate requirements, and integrating with one does not satisfy the other.
It targets service providers liable to Punjab sales tax on services, with restaurants the most prominent category. Reported thresholds have shifted — earlier criteria referenced designated service sectors with annual turnover of PKR 10 million and above, and 2024 reporting described restaurants at Rs 6 million annual revenue being brought in. Confirm the current threshold with PRA.
Yes, if it is built to. The integration layer should be separate from billing so that additional endpoints can be added without rewriting the system. A POS hard-coded to a single authority's API becomes a problem the moment a second requirement applies.
Each province has its own revenue authority for sales tax on services, with its own rules and systems. If you operate across provinces, treat each as a separate compliance question and confirm requirements with the relevant provincial authority.