FBR Digital Invoicing for Cosmetics, Perfume & Beauty Shops (2026)

In short: if your cosmetics, perfume or beauty shop is sales tax registered, the products you sell must be billed through FBR's Digital Invoicing system. Most of these products — soap, shampoo, toothpaste, perfume and make-up — follow a special rule where the tax is worked out on the price printed on the pack. We explain it in plain words below.

FBR Digital Invoicing is Pakistan's real-time billing system (real-time means FBR checks and saves the bill the moment you make it). The rules come from SRO 1852(I)/2025, the notification FBR issued on 24 September 2025 that sets who must join and by when. Missing your date carries a penalty that starts at Rs 500,000.

Every bill you post gets an IRN (Invoice Reference Number — the unique number FBR gives each invoice) and a QR code (the square barcode a buyer can scan to check the bill is real). No IRN means the bill is not valid for FBR. A very small shop below the sales tax limit is not in yet; it joins after it registers or after FBR notifies its group.

Cosmetics and personal-care products sit on a special government list called the Third Schedule (a list of goods where sales tax is charged on the printed retail price, not on the price you actually charge). Toilet soap, detergents, shampoo, toothpaste, shaving cream, perfume and make-up are all on this list.

For these items the maker or importer prints a retail price on the pack — the MRP (Maximum Retail Price — the fixed price printed on the product) — and the sales tax is built into that price. So the tax does not change with the deal you strike or the small discount you give; it is fixed to the printed price.

This is the one habit that makes a beauty shop different from an ordinary goods shop. Our guide '3rd Schedule Goods and FBR Digital Invoicing' explains the full list, and 'FBR Digital Invoicing for Wholesalers, Distributors & FMCG in Pakistan' covers the supply chain above you.

The sum is simple. Tax equals the printed retail price times the tax rate. For most cosmetics the standard rate is used — 18% at the time of writing — but rates change, so confirm today's exact figure with your tax adviser before you set prices.

Example in plain numbers: a face wash with a printed price of Rs 500 at 18% carries Rs 90 of sales tax, worked out on the Rs 500 printed price — even if you sell it at a small discount. On the bill, that printed price goes in the retail-price box, not the normal value box.

Get this box right or FBR rejects the bill. If the retail price is missing you get error 0090, and if your tax figure does not match printed price times rate you get error 0102. Digi Invoice fills the right box and does the sum for you. Our guide 'How Sales Tax Is Calculated on an FBR Digital Invoice' shows every formula FBR checks.

Some stock is not on the printed-price list. Loose or unbranded items, small local accessories, hair clips and combs, or any product with no printed retail price are billed the normal way — at the standard rate on the price you charge, not on a printed price.

So one shop can carry two kinds of lines: branded Third Schedule items billed on their printed price, and ordinary items billed on your selling price. Each goods line also needs an HS code (Harmonised System code — an international product number FBR uses to name the item). Set the right code once per product and Digi Invoice reuses it.

Grocery and karyana shops sell many of the same branded soaps and toothpastes, so the rule is the same for them; our guide 'FBR Digital Invoicing for General Stores, Karyana Shops & Supermarkets' is a close match. If you also run a salon or beauty service alongside the shop, that service is taxed by your province — SRB in Sindh, PRA in Punjab, KPRA in KP, BRA in Balochistan, with Islamabad handled by FBR — so keep it on its own line.

Beauty shops serve two very different buyers, and the bill is not the same for both. A walk-in customer usually has no tax number — you mark that buyer as 'Unregistered'. A salon, a spa, a hotel or a reseller may have an NTN (National Tax Number — the 7-digit tax number), which you record on the bill.

Why it matters: a registered buyer with a proper invoice and IRN can claim back the tax it paid (input tax — the sales tax a registered business subtracts from what it owes). A walk-in customer cannot, and does not need to give any number. Choosing the wrong buyer type is a common reason a bill fails, so set this field with care.

When you sell to an unregistered buyer, an extra charge called further tax is usually added on top of the normal tax. The figure changes over time, so confirm the current one. Our guides 'Registered vs Unregistered Buyers on FBR Invoices' and 'Further Tax and Extra Tax in FBR Invoicing' cover both sides.

Bill each product on its own line. For a branded Third Schedule item show the product name (for example: shampoo 200ml, perfume 50ml, face cream), the quantity, the unit of measure (UoM — how you count the item, such as pieces or units), the printed retail price, and the tax worked out on that price.

For an ordinary, non-listed item, the same line shows your selling price in the value box instead of a printed price. Keeping the two kinds of line clear is what keeps your bill correct and your return tidy. On a busy counter you can import many bills together instead of typing each one; our guide 'FBR Digital Invoicing Bulk Upload' shows how.

In FBR's test list, a branded Third Schedule sale to an end consumer is scenario SN027, while an ordinary standard-rate counter sale is SN001 for a registered buyer, SN002 for an unregistered one, and SN026 for a registered retailer selling to a consumer. You do not have to memorise these — the platform picks the right one from the item and buyer you choose. Branded electronics work the same printed-price way; see 'FBR Digital Invoicing for Electronics & Home Appliance Shops'.

Products come back — a wrong shade, a leaking bottle, an allergy return. If a customer returns an item or you need to correct a bill after posting, you do not delete the invoice. FBR keeps every posted bill for the record.

Instead you raise a credit note against the original bill to reduce it, or a debit note to add to it. This keeps your record and the buyer's record matched. Our guide 'Debit Notes and Credit Notes in FBR Digital Invoicing' walks through it step by step.

Free testers and samples that you give away with no charge are not a normal sale, so treat them separately and ask your tax adviser how to record them. When a real sale happens, the buyer can scan the QR code to confirm the bill is genuine; our guide 'How to Verify an FBR Digital Invoice' shows the check.

You do not need to be a tax expert. Pick the product, and Digi Invoice knows whether it is a printed-price Third Schedule item or an ordinary one, puts the amount in the correct box, works out the tax and any further tax, and posts the bill to FBR's Digital Invoicing system. You get the IRN, the QR code and a clean printable invoice back in seconds.

Save your full product list once — every soap, shampoo, perfume and cream with its printed price and HS code — and bill in a few taps at the counter. Every posted bill is stored in a built-in ledger, so at return time your record is already organised and audit-ready.

Ready to start? Create a free account and post your first FBR-compliant cosmetics invoice the same day.

IRN (Invoice Reference Number) — the unique number FBR gives your bill after you post it. No IRN means the bill is not valid for FBR.

QR code — the square barcode printed on the bill; anyone can scan it to check the invoice is real.

Third Schedule — a government list of goods, like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, perfume and cosmetics, where the tax is charged on the price printed on the pack.

Printed retail price (MRP) — the fixed maximum price printed on the product; for Third Schedule items the tax is worked out on this price, not on your selling price.

Further tax — an extra charge added when you sell to an unregistered buyer, on top of the normal tax.