Being a non-filer is not a neutral choice. Banks, excise offices and property registrars all deduct tax at a higher rate from people who are not on the Active Taxpayers List, and on most heads that rate is exactly double. Put your own figures in below.
Line by line
| Charge | Filer | Late filer | Non-filer |
|---|
Outside immovable property the card sets no separate late filer rate, so those lines are the same as a filer's. Once you are restored to the Active Taxpayers List you are on it. Property under sections 236C and 236K is the exception, and it is a costly one.
Rates taken from the FBR Withholding Tax Rate Card, Tax Year 2026 (updated to 30 June 2025 per the Finance Act 2025), checked on . This is the card FBR currently lists as in force; a card for Tax Year 2027 had not been published when these figures were checked.
General information only. This compares withholding tax deducted at source under a handful of common heads. It is not your total tax bill, it does not cover business receipts, imports, contracts or exports, and several heads carry different rates for particular company types. Withholding tax is mostly adjustable against your final liability, so the real cost of not filing is that a non-filer usually cannot reclaim it. It is not a substitute for professional advice.
There are three rates, not two
Almost everyone talks about filers and non-filers. The FBR rate card actually has a third column: late filer. It applies to immovable property under sections 236C and 236K, and only there. Buy a house for Rs 20 million and a filer pays Rs 300,000 in advance tax, a late filer pays Rs 900,000, and a non-filer pays Rs 2,100,000 on the same transaction.
Outside property there is no separate late filer rate, because once you have been restored to the Active Taxpayers List you are simply on it. That is the practical argument for filing even after the deadline has gone: the surcharge to get back on the list is a fixed amount, while the higher withholding rates keep applying to everything you do.
The rate card at a glance
These are the heads most individuals actually meet in a year. Every figure is from the FBR withholding rate card, not from commentary about it.
| What is being taxed | Section | Filer | Non-filer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit on a bank account or deposit | 151 | 20% | 40% |
| Dividends from shares or a REIT | 150 | 15% | 30% |
| Prize bond or crossword winnings | 156 | 15% | 30% |
| Cash withdrawals over Rs 50,000 in a day | 231AB | Nil | 0.8% |
Two things in that table are worth pausing on. The first is that the bank profit rate is 20% against 40%, not the 10% and 15% that a great deal of older material online still quotes. The second is section 231AB, which is the only line here that does not exist at all for a filer.
Cash withdrawals: a charge only non-filers pay
Section 231AB charges 0.8% on cash withdrawals, but only to people who are not on the Active Taxpayers List, and only on days when your withdrawals across all your accounts at that bank exceed Rs 50,000 in total. For a filer the rate is nil — not a lower rate, nil.
The threshold is a daily one and it aggregates. Three withdrawals of Rs 20,000 on the same day from the same bank is Rs 60,000 for this purpose, not three amounts under the limit. People who deal largely in cash can accumulate a surprising figure here over a year without ever noticing a single deduction, because it comes off in small pieces.
Vehicles: two separate taxes, and both of them double
Registering a vehicle is charged under section 231B as a share of the vehicle’s value, rising with engine size. This is one of the places where old articles are most badly out of date: a lot of them still describe this as a flat rupee amount per engine band, which it no longer is.
| Engine size | Filer | Non-filer |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 850cc | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| 851cc to 1000cc | 1% | 3% |
| 1001cc to 1300cc | 1.5% | 4.5% |
| 1301cc to 1600cc | 2% | 6% |
| 1601cc to 1800cc | 3% | 9% |
| 1801cc to 2000cc | 5% | 15% |
| 2001cc to 2500cc | 7% | 21% |
| 2501cc to 3000cc | 9% | 27% |
| Above 3000cc | 12% | 36% |
Note that the non-filer rate here is three times the filer rate, not double. On a Rs 3,000,000 car in the 1001–1300cc band that is Rs 45,000 against Rs 135,000, decided by nothing except whether your name was on a list on the day you registered.
Separately, the annual motor vehicle tax collected with your token under section 234 is a fixed amount by engine size, and it is doubled for non-filers — Rs 800 against Rs 1,600 for a small car, Rs 10,000 against Rs 20,000 at 2000cc and above. It is a small sum each year, but it recurs for as long as you own the vehicle.
Property is where the numbers get large
Property is the only head with a genuine three-way split, and the gaps are wide enough to dwarf everything else on this page.
| Buying (236K), on fair market value | Filer | Late filer | Non-filer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to Rs 50 million | 1.5% | 4.5% | 10.5% |
| Rs 50m to Rs 100 million | 2% | 5.5% | 14.5% |
| Over Rs 100 million | 2.5% | 6.5% | 18.5% |
Selling is charged under section 236C on the consideration received, at 4.5%, 5% and 5.5% for a filer across the same three bands, rising to 7.5%, 8.5% and 9.5% for a late filer and 11.5% throughout for a non-filer.
A single property transaction is usually the moment when filer status stops being an abstraction. On a Rs 20 million purchase the difference between filing on time and never filing is Rs 1.8 million, which is many times the cost of putting a return together.
Withholding tax is mostly adjustable, and that is the real point
Most of these deductions are advance tax rather than a final charge. If you file a return, they count against what you owe, and if too much was deducted you claim the difference back. A non-filer does not file, so nothing gets adjusted and nothing gets refunded. The higher rate is not the whole cost of staying off the list; the money never coming back is.
This is why comparing the two rate columns understates the gap. A filer paying 20% on bank profit may get much of it back when the return is assessed. A non-filer paying 40% keeps no such option open, because the mechanism for reclaiming it is the return they did not file.
A worked example: one ordinary year
Someone earns Rs 500,000 in profit on their bank deposits, receives Rs 200,000 in dividends, withdraws Rs 600,000 in cash across days where they took out more than Rs 50,000, and registers a 1300cc car worth Rs 3,000,000. Nothing unusual, and no property.
| Head | As a filer | As a non-filer |
|---|---|---|
| Profit on bank deposits | Rs 100,000 | Rs 200,000 |
| Dividends | Rs 30,000 | Rs 60,000 |
| Cash withdrawals | Nil | Rs 4,800 |
| Vehicle registration | Rs 45,000 | Rs 135,000 |
| Annual token tax | Rs 2,500 | Rs 5,000 |
| Total | Rs 177,500 | Rs 404,800 |
Rs 227,300 more, in a single year, on a life that involved no property transaction at all. Set that against the Rs 25,000 surcharge for getting back onto the list and the arithmetic is not close.
Common questions
Is the non-filer rate always double?
No, and assuming so will mislead you. Bank profit, dividends and token tax are double. Vehicle registration is triple. Property runs from 1.5% to 10.5% at the lowest band, which is seven times. Cash withdrawal has no filer rate at all.
I paid a lot of withholding tax. Does that make me a filer?
No. The Active Taxpayers List records who filed a return, not who paid tax. You can pay a great deal of withholding tax across a year and still be treated as a non-filer on every transaction, because you never filed.
What is a late filer, exactly?
Someone who filed their return, but after the due date. The distinction only changes your rate on immovable property under sections 236C and 236K. Everywhere else, being restored to the list puts you on the ordinary filer rate.
Can I get the extra deduction back?
Only by filing. Most of these are adjustable advance taxes that are credited against your liability when you file a return. Without a return there is no assessment to adjust them against.
Where these figures come from
Every rate in the calculator is taken from the FBR Directorate General of Withholding Taxes rate card for Tax Year 2026, updated to 30 June 2025 under the Finance Act 2025. That is the card FBR currently lists as in force. We used the card itself rather than commentary about it, because three different tax advisory sites gave three different rates for profit on a bank deposit. The figures were last checked on 28 July 2026.
Related: what filing late costs, how the Active Taxpayers List works, and the income tax calculator.
Last updated: 12 September 2026
Sources
- Federal Board of Revenue — fbr.gov.pk, accessed 12 September 2026
Sources
- Federal Board of Revenue, Directorate General of Withholding Taxes, Withholding Tax Rate Cards: rate card for Tax Year 2026, updated to 30 June 2025 per the Finance Act 2025.
- Income Tax Ordinance 2001, sections 150, 151, 156, 231AB, 231B, 234, 236C and 236K, and the Tenth Schedule.
Related reading: where filer status actually costs you, and the surcharge for getting back on the list.
This page gives general information about tax in Pakistan. It is not advice on your own situation. Rules and rates change, sometimes in the middle of a year. Before you act on anything here, check the current position with the FBR or a registered tax practitioner.