FBR Digital Invoicing for Jewellers, Gold and Silver Shops in Pakistan (2026): 3% on Local Jewellery, 25% on Imported, and How to Bill Old-Gold Exchanges
How jewellers issue FBR digital invoices: 3% on locally made jewellery (no input tax), 25% on imported pieces under SRO 297, old-gold exchanges, bookings.
What this guide tells you, in plain words
This page is for sarraf shops, goldsmiths, silver shops and jewellery makers. It explains which sales tax rate goes on each kind of item, how to put a jewellery sale on an FBR digital invoice, and how to bill the two things every gold shop does daily: taking old gold in exchange and taking a booking advance.
The main numbers are simple. Locally made jewellery of gold, silver or other precious metal carries a fixed 3% sales tax, and no input tax (the tax you paid on your own purchases) can be claimed against it. That rule came in with the Finance Act 2022 and is still the rule in 2026. Imported jewellery, real or imitation, carries 25% under SRO 297(I)/2023, on the import and on every sale after it. A special rule in the Finance Act 2022 made every jeweller with a shop of more than 300 square feet a Tier-1 retailer; the Finance Act 2023 removed that rule. Today a jeweller is Tier-1 under the general tests: a chain store, a shop in an air-conditioned mall or plaza, an electricity bill above Rs 1.2 million in twelve months, or turnover above Rs 200 million (a test the Finance Act 2026 added). Either way, every sales tax registered jeweller must issue FBR digital invoices under SRO 1852(I)/2025.
The pressure is real. In September 2025 the FBR chairman told the jewellers' association that out of 35,000 registered jewellers, more than 14,000 had not filed returns. In June 2026 Karachi gold markets shut in protest against Section 175C, under which FBR officers can sit inside a shop to watch daily sales. And the 2026 fixed tax scheme for small shops (SRO 1166) leaves jewellers out by name. Clean digital invoices are now the cheapest way to stay out of that spotlight.
Four kinds of items, four tax treatments
1. Locally made jewellery of precious metal (gold, silver, platinum, or metal clad with precious metal): 3% of the sale price, no input tax adjustment. This is an Eighth Schedule reduced rate. It covers rings, sets, bangles, chains and parts of them. The old split from 2019, which charged separate rates on the gold value, the diamond value and the making charges, ended in July 2022. Today the 3% sits on the whole price of the piece, making charges included.
2. Imported jewellery, whether precious or imitation: 25% under SRO 297(I)/2023, in force since 8 March 2023. The importer pays it at the port and every later sale of that piece also carries 25%. If you buy imported pieces from a wholesaler, the supplier invoice should show 25%. 'FBR Digital Invoicing for Importers: Green Channel at Risk from July 2026' explains the importer side.
3. Locally made imitation or artificial jewellery (brass, copper, plated alloys with no precious metal): the normal 18% standard rate, because the 3% rate is only for precious metal. 4. Gold in raw, unworked form (bars, biscuits, tolas of bullion) sold by a bullion dealer: its own low Eighth Schedule rate, 1% when the Finance Act 2019 created it. Check the current figure in the FBR rate list for your invoice date. Loose stones follow their own headings; ask your consultant once and save the answer as a product.
How to put a jewellery sale on an FBR digital invoice
For a locally made gold or silver piece, pick the reduced-rate sale type (sandbox scenario SN005, Goods at Reduced Rate) and the 3% rate. Fill the schedule field with the Eighth Schedule Table 1 and the serial number FBR lists for articles of jewellery; if either is missing, FBR returns error 0077 or 0078. Leave the extra tax field blank, not zero, or FBR returns error 0091. Use the HS code for the piece (heading 71.13 for articles of jewellery) and the unit of measurement FBR allows for that code, otherwise error 0099 fires. 'Reduced-Rate Goods in FBR Digital Invoicing' and 'UoM in FBR Digital Invoicing: Picking the Right Unit of Measurement (2026)' walk through each field.
Put the full price of the piece in the value field and 3% of it in the sales tax field. Do not split gold value and making charges into separate reduced-rate lines; the 3% is one rate on one price. If the same invoice also has an imported piece, add it as a second line with the SRO 297 sale type (scenario SN024), rate 25%, schedule 297(I)/2023 and its serial number. If it has a local imitation piece, that line is a standard 18% line.
Most walk-in customers are not sales tax registered, so mark the buyer as Unregistered and record the name and CNIC where the law asks for it. 'Registered vs Unregistered Buyers on FBR Invoices: Registration Type, Further Tax and ATL Checks' explains the buyer fields. FBR then returns the IRN (Invoice Reference Number, the unique number FBR gives every invoice) and the QR code for the customer's receipt. 'FBR Digital Invoicing Error Codes: The Complete Reference (0001–0402)' decodes anything else FBR sends back.
Old-gold exchange, booking advances and returns
Exchange (purana sona): a customer brings an old bangle worth Rs 150,000 and takes a new set priced at Rs 400,000, paying Rs 250,000 in cash. The sale you post to FBR is the new set at its full price, Rs 400,000, with 3% tax on that amount. The old bangle is your purchase from the customer, not a discount on the sale. Record it separately as stock bought in, with the customer's name and CNIC and the weight. Never post only the cash difference; that under-reports the sale and FBR now sees both sides of the trade.
Booking advance (bayana): a customer pays Rs 50,000 today for a set you will hand over after the wedding date next month. Under the time of supply rule, receiving the money starts the sale, so issue a digital invoice for the Rs 50,000 today and a second one for the balance at delivery. 'When Must You Issue an FBR Digital Invoice? Time of Supply, Advance Payments and the Whichever-Is-Earlier Rule (2026)' has the worked cases.
Returns and remakes: if a piece comes back or is exchanged for another design, do not delete the posted invoice. Issue a credit note against it and a fresh invoice for the new piece, as explained in 'Debit Notes and Credit Notes in FBR Digital Invoicing'. A mistake in a posted invoice can be fixed only within 72 hours; after that you need the Commissioner's approval.
Why 2026 is the year a jeweller cannot stay outside
Three things happened in one year. First, the 300 square feet jewellers rule of the Finance Act 2022 is gone (the Finance Act 2023 removed it), but the general Tier-1 tests remain and the Finance Act 2026 added a turnover test of Rs 200 million; a shop in an air-conditioned mall, a chain outlet or a shop with a large electricity bill is still on FBR's POS integration list, and every sales tax registered jeweller is on the digital invoicing list under SRO 1852(I)/2025. 'FBR POS Integration vs Digital Invoicing: Which One Does Your Business Need? (2026)' explains the difference between the two systems. Second, the Asaan Tajir fixed tax scheme under SRO 1166(I)/2026 excludes jewellers, so there is no 1% shortcut; see 'FBR Asaan Tajir App and Green Plate (2026): How Small Shopkeepers Join the 1% Fixed Tax Scheme and When Digital Invoicing Still Applies'. Third, the association's Special Procedure for Income Tax 2026 of May 2026 is still only a proposal; the normal rules apply until FBR notifies something.
The cost of ignoring this is set out in 'FBR Digital Invoicing Penalties in 2026: Fines, Deadlines and How to Stay Compliant': fines that start at Rs 1 million, plus the risk of an officer posted in the shop under Section 175C. A shop that posts every sale and records old-gold purchases with CNICs has little to argue about when a notice arrives. If you are not yet registered, 'Sales Tax Registration (STRN) in Pakistan: The Step Before FBR Digital Invoicing (2026)' is the first step.
On Digi Invoice the 3% reduced-rate sale type, the schedule and serial fields and the blank extra-tax rule are saved once per product, so the counter staff only type the weight and the price. The sandbox (FBR's free practice system where test invoices do not count as real) lets you rehearse an exchange sale and a booking advance before the first live customer.
Difficult words in this guide
Tier-1 retailer — a large retailer as defined in section 2(43A) of the Sales Tax Act (a chain store, a shop in an air-conditioned mall or plaza, an electricity bill above Rs 1.2 million in twelve months, or turnover above Rs 200 million) that must link its counter to FBR. The 2022 rule that made every jeweller above 300 square feet a Tier-1 retailer was removed in 2023.
Eighth Schedule — the list in the Sales Tax Act of goods taxed at a reduced rate instead of 18%. Locally made jewellery sits here at 3%.
Input tax — the sales tax you paid on your own purchases, which most businesses subtract from the tax they collect. Jewellers using the 3% rate cannot subtract it.
SRO 297(I)/2023 — the FBR notification of March 2023 that put 25% sales tax on a list of imported goods, including jewellery, on import and on every later sale.
IRN (Invoice Reference Number) — the unique number FBR gives every digital invoice, printed with the QR code on the customer's receipt.