Abbottabad

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

TaxedSalary 0%–35% progressive; freelance income 0%–45% plus 10% surcharge above Rs 10 million, or a final 0.25%–1% on export receipts

Salary is Pakistan-source to the extent it comes from employment exercised in Pakistan, wherever it is paid (section 101(1)), and a resident's business income is Pakistan-source to the extent it comes from a business carried on in Pakistan (section 101(2)). So a remote salary or freelance fees for days you work from Pakistan are taxable whether or not you are resident. If salary is more than 75% of your taxable income, the salaried scale applies for tax year 2027 (Finance Act, 2026): nothing up to Rs 600,000, then 1%, 11%, 20%, 25%, 29% and 32%, and 35% above Rs 7 million, with no surcharge on salaried individuals (section 4AB). Other individuals pay nothing up to Rs 600,000, then 15%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 45% above Rs 5.6 million, plus a 10% surcharge on the tax when taxable income exceeds Rs 10 million. A foreign employer withholds nothing, so you file a return by 30 September after the tax year ends (section 118). Freelancers who export services and receive the money through a Pakistani bank can instead have a final tax deducted from the proceeds: 0.25% for PSEB-registered IT and IT-enabled services, 1% otherwise (section 154A; see regimes). Foreign-source salary for work done abroad is exempt for a resident if foreign tax was withheld on it (section 102), and a treaty may change the result, so check yours. This profile did not verify how Pakistan's social security schemes treat pay from a foreign employer.

On the nomad visa

Pakistan has no digital nomad or remote-work visa. Foreign visitors normally apply online for a visit visa through the Ministry of Interior's portal (visa.nadra.gov.pk), which this profile could not load to confirm stay lengths or conditions. Days are counted per July–June tax year: below 183 days you are non-resident and foreign investment income is not taxed, but pay for work you physically do in Pakistan is Pakistan-source income and taxable from the first day.

Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad

Taxed15% on foreign dividends; slab rates up to 45% plus 10% surcharge on foreign interest, rent and gains; former-employer pensions 0% up to Rs 10 million, then 5%

A resident's income includes foreign-source amounts under every head (section 11(5)). Dividends from any company, foreign ones included, are taxed separately at 15% of the gross amount (section 5 and Division III of the First Schedule). Interest from abroad is income from other sources (section 39(1)(c)), and rent from a property abroad is income from property with a one-fifth repairs allowance (sections 15 and 15A); both are added to your other income and taxed at the slab rates. Gains on foreign shares and foreign property fall under the general capital gains rule (section 37) and are taxed at the slab rates, because the flat rates apply only to Pakistani securities (section 37A) and property situated in Pakistan (section 37(1A)). Those flat rates are 15% for people on the Active Taxpayers' List on securities and property bought from 1 July 2024. A pension from a former employer is taxed at 0% up to Rs 10 million a year and 5% above, and not at all from age 70 (section 12(2A)). Pakistani bank interest pays 20% (Division IIIA). Foreign tax is credited up to the Pakistani tax on that income (section 103). Returning citizens and some short-stay employees get time-limited exemptions for foreign income (see regimes). How crypto-asset gains are treated is not spelled out here.

Net wealth and inheritance

No wealth taxNo inheritance tax

Pakistan has no net wealth, estate or inheritance tax; the 2026-27 budget measures cover only income tax, sales tax, federal excise and customs. The Finance Act, 2026 abolished two asset levies: the capital value tax on foreign movable and immovable assets of resident Pakistanis, and the tax on deemed income from immovable property in Pakistan (section 7E, omitted). Gifts are not tax-free: money or property received without consideration from anyone other than a relative is income from other sources (section 39(1)(la)). Buying or selling property in Pakistan triggers adjustable advance income tax, now a flat 2.75% for sellers (section 236C) and 1.5% for buyers (section 236K) after the Finance Act, 2026. Provinces add stamp duty and urban property tax, which vary by province.

Tax resident after

183 days a year

Top income tax rate

35%

When you become tax resident

The tax year runs from 1 July to 30 June and is named after the year it ends in, so tax year 2027 is 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 (Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, section 74). You are resident for a tax year if you are present in Pakistan for 183 days or more in total during it (section 82(a)). The older test of 120 days in the year plus 365 days in the four previous years was removed by the Finance Act, 2021, and there is no home or centre-of-interests test. Two extra rules catch Pakistanis: a citizen is also resident if not present in any other country for more than 182 days in the tax year or not tax resident anywhere else (section 82(d)), and federal and provincial government staff posted abroad stay resident (section 82(c)). A visitor below 183 days is non-resident and taxed only on Pakistan-source income (section 11(6)), which still includes pay for work done while in Pakistan.

Top income tax rate

Karachi: 35% on salary above Rs 7 million under the salaried scale for tax year 2027 (raised from Rs 4.1 million by the Finance Act, 2026), with no surcharge since salaried individuals were exempted. Income tax is federal and the Ordinance extends to the whole of Pakistan, so the rate is the same everywhere. Non-salaried individuals pay 45% above Rs 5.6 million plus a 10% surcharge on the tax above Rs 10 million, 49.5% at the margin. Anyone with income above Rs 500 million also owes super tax of 8% of their whole income (section 4C).