Withholding · Section 236Y · Tax Year 2026-2027
Foreign Card Payment Tax Calculator (Section 236Y)
Calculate the advance tax on card payments and remittances sent abroad — 0.5% for filers, 1% for non-filers, after the Finance Act 2026 cut from 5%.
Step by step
How remittance tax is worked out
Enter your payment amount
The PKR-equivalent value of your card payment or remittance abroad.
Choose your filer status
Filers pay 0.5%; non-filers pay double at 1%.
See the tax withheld
Your bank deducts this at the time of the transaction.
Check your net amount
What's actually charged after tax.
Good to know
Foreign remittance tax essentials
Card-based transactions
This applies to debit/credit/prepaid card payments processed abroad by Pakistani banks.
Adjustable advance tax
Claim it as a credit against your annual tax liability when filing.
Filers pay far less
The 5x rate difference makes this one of the more noticeable filer incentives for frequent online shoppers.
Reading the result
It applies to the card, not just the wire transfer
People associate this with sending money abroad through a bank, so they are caught out by the everyday version: paying a foreign merchant with a Pakistani debit or credit card. A subscription renewal, cloud hosting, an advertising account, a flight booked on an overseas site — the bank collects on those as it would on a transfer.
Because most such payments are small and frequent, the cost is invisible per transaction and only shows up when you add a year of statements together.
Filer status roughly halves it
The gap between the filer and non-filer rate is the cheapest saving available here, and it applies to every future transaction rather than to one. For anyone paying overseas platforms regularly, being on the Active Taxpayer List pays for itself quickly.
Adjustable, so keep the certificate
This is advance tax, not a final charge. It counts against your annual liability, which means it is worth having a record of. Banks issue a withholding certificate on request; without it you are reconstructing a year of card statements at filing time.
Where this stops
This is the income tax withheld on the transaction. It is not the whole cost of paying abroad — the exchange rate spread your bank applies, and any foreign transaction fee, are separate and usually larger.
FAQs
Foreign remittance tax FAQs
What is Section 236Y?
Section 236Y imposes advance tax on payments made abroad through debit, credit or prepaid cards issued by banks in Pakistan — for online purchases, subscriptions, or foreign transactions — at 0.5% for filers and 1% for non-filers.
Does this apply to all foreign card transactions?
It applies to card-based remittances abroad processed by Pakistani banks. Wire transfers through other channels (e.g. formal banking remittance for imports) may follow different rules.
Is this tax adjustable?
Yes — like most advance taxes, it is generally adjustable against your final income tax liability when filing your annual return.
How can I reduce this cost?
Becoming an active filer halves the rate from 1% to 0.5%. Finance Act 2026 cut the filer rate from 5% to 0.5%, so this is now a small charge either way — but it is adjustable against your annual tax only if you file.
Related tools
See the full filer vs non-filer cost
Compare this against cash withdrawal, dividends and property transactions.
Open Filer vs Non-Filer Calculator